J Sainsbury plc : Sainsbury’s outlines commitment to British farming at Oxford Farming Conference

In a first for a major retailer, Sainsbury's will today host a fringe event for delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference. The event, which will be attended by farmers from across Britain, will discuss the work of the retailer's pioneering farming Development Groups - now firmly established across beef, lamb, pork, eggs, chicken, milk, cheese, wheat and produce.

Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury's Brand and responsible for all Sainsbury's own label products, will open the fringe event at 4.30pm on Tuesday 3 January ahead of the main conference on Wednesday 4 January. Delegates will be updated on the supermarket's new 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan and its commitment to double the amount of British food sold by 2020. Six Sainsbury's farmers will also attend to discuss their work with the supermarket and how Development Group initiatives are improving herd health and reducing carbon emissions.

Agriculture Manager Natalie Smith will also attend to elaborate on Sainsbury's industry leading projects, such as the Concept Farm in Yorkshire and the Welfare Outcomes research across all of the livestock Development Groups.

Director of Sainsbury's Brand, Judith Batchelar, said: "The Oxford Farming Conference is an important opportunity to debate the key challenges facing the food and farming industry and to reinforce how much further Sainsbury's is going than any other supermarkets to boost sustainability and create secure supply chains. With over 22 million customer transactions every week, 150,000 colleagues and over 2,000 suppliers, Sainsbury's is ideally placed to make a positive difference on the economy, environment and society. Through our 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan we have made a long term commitment and investment to double the amount of British food we sell, which will help the food industry plan and grow food for the future with confidence.

"It's also fantastic to bring a selection of our Farming Development Group members to understand what the future issues and challenges facing the industry and to participate in discussions with the delegates about our £1 billion 20 by 20 Sustainability plan, many parts of which provide significant opportunities for the British farming industry.

"Beyond this Sainsbury's is going further than other supermarkets to support farmers in our Development Groups and dairy farmers alone have saved over £10 million in the last five years thanks to improvements in animal welfare and savings in energy bills. Since 2006 we've invested over £30 million in the Groups which includes funding for vet visits, environmental assessments, advice and new IT equipment and will continue to do so to support British farming."

Sainsbury's Agriculture Manager Natalie Smith, said: "We have made major commitments to British farming and taken pioneering steps to improve animal welfare such as the indoor free farrowing trial at our Concept Farm in Yorkshire. We're also looking forward to hearing from speakers about the key challenges and opportunities facing the global food industry so we can continue to support our farmers and ensure we work together for a long term sustainable supply chain."

Notes to editors 

Best for British 

Livestock

• 100% of our fresh chicken is British
• 100% of our whole eggs are British
• 100% of sausages and ham are made with British meat
• We sell British lamb when best in season.  Our Taste the Difference, Organic & Counter lamb is 100% British all year round.
• We are the largest buyer of Welsh lamb - over 1 million Welsh lambs.
• We also support Welsh Young Farmers, to encourage more young farmers into the industry. We pay them a 10p/kg premium for their lamb and a donation towards the Young Farmers organisation
• Dairy - all our milk (fresh and UHT), cream, butter, block cheddar are made with British milk*.

* Other than for reasons of provenance or authenticity, e.g. Irish Wexford, Normandy butter

Animal welfare

• Won theRSPCA Good Business Award2010for most progress out of all UK supermarkets on welfare
• Won theRSPCA Good Business Award 2011for Excellence in Customer Communication
• AwardedBest Volume Supermarket in 2010 and 2011by Compassion in World Farming
• AwardedGood Calf Commendation in 2011recognising our utilisation of dairy bulls through our bull beef and veal schemes

Freedom Food

• Largest retailer of Freedom Food products in the UK
• We sell 62% of all Freedom Food food sold in the UK, meeting RSPCA welfare standards
• Over £315 million Freedom Food sales in last year
• We sell 310 lines - the widest range of Freedom Food products, including chicken, turkey, duck, pork, sausages, veal, eggs and salmon
• We sell more Freedom Food chicken than the combined total of all other retailers
• 18% of our fresh chicken sales are Freedom Food birds
• 10 million birds reared to RSPCA standards of welfare

Cage-free hens

• First major supermarket to source all our whole eggs from cage-free hens (February 2009)
• We sell 600 million eggs per year
• The move has improved the lives of 800,000 birds
• Future commitment:  To move all eggs used as an ingredient to cage-free by 2012.  Global impact - eggs are used in over 1,600 of our products, sourced from 500 suppliers from 50 countries.

Woodland chicken and eggs

• We are the only retailer to promote tree cover for birds through our Woodland eggs and chicken
• We sell over 75 million Woodland eggs per year and 4.9 million Woodland chickens per year
• Improving the welfare of over 1.3 million birds
• Launch of Woodland turkey this Christmas will affect the lives of 100,000 birds
• For every Woodland product sold we make a donation to the Woodland Trust to support tree planting
• Through sales of Woodland chicken, eggs and turkeys we will have donated almost £1 million to the Woodland Trust, and led to planting of over 380,000 trees
• The sales support free sapling kits for schools through our Active Kids scheme
• This autumn 300,000 children will have the opportunity to plant a tree as a result.

Produce

• 40 % of the fruit and vegetable we sell are British by value
• 65% of the vegetables we sell are British by value
• We sell more British varieties of apples and pears than any other retailer