Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) is partnering with 23 UK farmers to grow regenerative barley in 2023. The target is to exclusively use this barley in all Carlsberg Danish Pilsner brews by 2027, and across CMBC’s other UK-brewed brands by 2031.

The core practices which CMBC is promoting as part of the programme include limiting soil disturbance and chemical usage, planting multi-species cover crops, crop rotation, field margins and documentation of practices used at farms in scope.

By the end of 2023, the target is for partner farms to have produced an estimated 7,000 tons of barley. CMBC’s aim is to use that barley in Carlsberg Danish Pilsner brews from 2024, which is enough to make up to 96 million pints per year.

WWF-UK “Land of Plenty” report, highlights at least 29% of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from the way we produce, distribute and consume food. Farming practices are also the main driver of losses of biodiversity. CMBC’s target is to introduce regenerative practices with the aim of helping to promote biodiversity, replenish the natural resources used through farming, restore soil health, and support natural carbon capture on the UK farms involved.

As one of the first farms to sign up, Ben Taylor, Managing Director at Iford Estate in East Sussex, says:

“It’s great that Carlsberg Marston’s recognise the benefits to biodiversity and ecosystems services of farming regeneratively and are actively rewarding those farmers who use these techniques. I hope that this is the start of a long-term partnership.”

Laurence Cox, Sustainability Lead at Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company, said:

“We’re excited to support British farmers to ensure our barley continues to be sourced from UK farmers for our UK-brewed brands, and going forward, using regenerative techniques. The partnerships we have established to deliver this programme are critical, and we will continue to collaborate closely with local farmers, traders, maltsters, agronomists and NGOs as we continue our transition to regenerative barley.”

CMBC has rolled out the initiative in partnership with farm consultants and agronomists Ceres Rural, who supported in the development of a regenerative agriculture protocol that considers the specific needs of British farmers, while aligning with wider Group practices. The collaboration enables farmers to implement the new practices, while measuring impacts on soil, biodiversity, and carbon emissions.

In supporting CMBC’s journey, Alice Andrew, Associate Partner at Ceres Rural, says:

“Agricultural systems vary hugely across the world due to climate, soil type, crops grown, scale and technology – therefore adapting the approach across markets is essential to success. Government and industry support for farmers will help scale these practices – from expert advice and facilitating peer-to–peer learning to gathering local data to give more farmers confidence to adapt new practices.”

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM), a global leader in sustainable agriculture and nutrition, has supported the initiative by championing its benefits to farmers, and by helping to launch it commercially through relevant supply contracts.

Jonathan Lane, Managing Director UK at ADM says:

“ADM is delighted to be supporting this exciting project as further evidence of how we work with farmers, here in the UK and around the world, to expand regenerative agriculture. At ADM, we have experience supporting farmers in implementing regenerative agriculture and understand the importance of creating value for participants across the value chains in which we operate.”

In the UK, the Carlsberg brand has been supporting WWF-UK since 2021*.

Callum Weir, Head of Agricultural Programmes at WWF-UK, says: “Agriculture is the biggest cause of biodiversity loss around the world and a major driver of climate change. If we’re to bring our world back to life, we simply must find better ways to farm in harmony with nature. Regenerative agriculture, when robustly defined and comprehensively implemented, is one way to do that. Every business with an agricultural supply chain needs to step up to this challenge and we applaud CMBC for setting their ambitions towards zero footprint farming.”

The activity marks the latest step in CMBC’s journey, under the Group’s global ZERO Farming Footprint ambition, part of its recently launched ESG programme, Together Towards Zero and Beyond. Carlsberg Group is targeting 100% regenerative barley usage by 2040 so the UK is one of the lead markets with its target.

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* CMBC is taking steps towards “regenerative agriculture” defined as the creation of agricultural systems that rely on healthy ecosystems and not chemical processes (such as artificial fertilisers and pesticides) and “regenerative techniques / practices” to be those which focus on improving ecosystem health and resilience (particularly soil health) by reducing the use of energy and chemical inputs in line with the definition provided on page 16 of WWF-UK’s “Land of Plenty” report published in February 2022, see www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-02/WWF_land_of_plenty.pdf.

* CMBC defines “regenerative barley” as barley farmed using “regenerative techniques”

* UK-brewed brands in scope include all brands brewed with CMBC’s five UK breweries

* Each year, CMBC produces approximately 1.5m hectolitres (150,000,000 litres) of Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, using around 20,000 tons of barley. 7,000 tons represents 35% of this annual barley total, meaning regenerative barley is estimated to produce up to approximately 549HL (35% of 1.5m hectolitres is 549HL). This is the equivalent of 96 million pints.

* Carlsberg gave £265,000 to WWF-UK (reg. charity 1081247 & SC039593) across 2021/22 to support UK seagrass restoration projects (see https://www.carlsberg.com/en-gb/wwf/ for full details). Carlsberg is giving £150,000 to WWF-UK (reg. charity 1081247 & SC039593) to support participating farmers in East Anglia to save water and reduce river pollution, with the aim to replenish up to 100 million litres in 2023 (see website for details).

* Carlsberg gave £265,000 to WWF-UK (reg. charity 1081247 & SC039593) across 2021/22 to support UK seagrass restoration projects (see https://www.carlsberg.com/en-gb/wwf/ for full details). Carlsberg is giving £150,000 to WWF-UK (reg. charity 1081247 & SC039593) to support participating farmers in East Anglia to save water and reduce river pollution, with the aim to replenish up to 100 million litres in 2023 (see website for details).