A CHESTER-BASED milk firm is working towards net zero in its sustainability push thanks to a new partnership.

Meadow, one of the UK’s leading value-added ingredients businesses, has become the latest associate partner in Harper Adams University’s School of Sustainable Food and Farming, which is working to help the farming industry on its journey to achieve net zero.

Created by sustainable agri-food chain specialists at Harper Adams, it sees academics working alongside various commercial partners, including Morrisons, McDonalds, The National Farmers Union – and now Meadow, which has its Chester base at Rough Hill, Marlston-Cum-Lache.

Through its shared mission, the school aims to plug the knowledge gap in the farming industry and breakdown barriers when it comes to working towards net zero.

Its purpose – followed by both the university and its partners – is to equip farmers with skills and knowledge towards net zero within sustainability parameters (economic, environmental and social).

As well as improve farm data to track carbon emission reductions and sequestration, offsetting at a whole farm system approach and encourage new entrants into the food industry and a diversity of entrepreneurial people. The school will talk a common language with regards to net zero and sustainable farming.

Meadow has always championed sustainability and recently announced that sustainability will now be front and centre in the company’s growth ambitions – with the aim of being net zero across all operating sites by 2030 and fully net zero by 2050.

The ingredients specialist also has a programme of work with its farm supply base which will see Meadow working to achieve a 10 per cent reduction in emissions per litre of milk by 2025. The business also aims for its ingredients to be 100 per cent responsibly sourced by the same year.

Head of sustainability at Meadow, Alun Lewis, said: “The partnership with Harper Adams on this new sustainable initiative lines up perfectly with our values and mission: to make sustainable ingredients easy for our customers.

"We will be combining our influence, knowledge and passion for sustainability, as well as our 30+ years of experience working with producers to identify challenges facing farmers and how to best support them. The opportunity to share knowledge from the partnership with our producers through our farmer engagement programme, being launched early 2023, will be another resilient tool for the farmers, on their road to a sustainable future.”

Director of The School of Sustainable Food and Farming at Harper Adams University, Simon Thelwell, said: “Sustainable supply chains and sourcing is becoming increasingly important to customers, suppliers and producers.

“We’re proud to be leading the agri-sector in helping them to delivering on their sustainable ambitions and to be partnering with some of the biggest names in industry so that collectively we can achieve ambitious sustainability goals.”

Meadow Foods is an award winning company that operates from four BRC AA accredited sites in Chester, Peterborough, Holme-on-Spalding Moor and Dolgellau where they manufacture value added ingredients seven days a week for some of the UK’s best known food manufacturers.

The company currently employs more than 450 people and handles in excess of 550 million litres of milk each year direct from its network of dedicated milk producers across the UK.