Current interview

Temperate Climate Sustainable Agriculture Network:
Heineken UK (Bulmers Cider)

An Interview with Richard Heathcote

 

About the project

This new networking project explores temperate climate tree crop agriculture with a view to more sustainable and resilient production systems. This will be delivered through a combination of cross-sector online collaboration and a series of focused face-to-face workshops. The project will develop KPIs for sustainable orcharding that are systemic, easy and cheap to measure and applicable at farm scale.

Part of the journey will be discovering how far we can include all temperate tree crops under one set of guideline indicators for sustainability, as opposed to creating an entirely unique set for every crop in that category. We also hope to learn from the progress made by some key tropical crops already. The project is designed to achieve results that can be implemented by any grower - not just on cider makers' own farms.

Purpose of the Project

For Heineken UK to secure continuous procurement of raw materials for the foreseeable future (i.e. for it to be viable financially, legally and also morally, to do so), more sustainable alternatives to our current production systems are paramount.

Being more sustainable is often synonymous with greater efficiency, which almost always results in direct or indirect cost savings or other benefits, although some efficiencies are cost neutral and others may come at a perceived loss. Another component of the business case is the reputational benefits of being seen to be more sustainable. A good reputation amongst suppliers also means a better chance of securing supply into the future.

Finally, while there is a plethora of research work and international collaboration on tropical climate crop agriculture, temperate climate agriculture and sustainability is surprisingly scant. A research and collaboration network dedicated specifically to temperate climate tree crops and sustainability goes some way to filling this gap.

Questions we are addressing

• Can we create high-yielding, modern agricultural systems that have the capacity and principles in our case to produce enough cider apples, but also contribute to tackling wider food issues, without eroding the very foundations (a healthy atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere) that it depends on?
• Is the right knowledge and expertise to do so already out there and if so, how can we mobilise the expertise already out there, without crossing competitive boundaries?
• How can we catalyse innovative farming practices upstream and how can we create and nurture a sustainable supply chain that truly works for everyone involved, from farmer to manufacturer and retailer?
• Can we find shared values and sustainability goals to aim towards that will help guide the progress and actions of everyone with a stake in temperate climate agriculture?
• Can we generate the enthusiasm, commitment and inspiration necessary to make the changes necessary in time (i.e. before its ‘too late’ and global climate change has passed the tipping point)?

Collaboration and benefits

Anyone with a genuine interest or stake in temperate climate crop agriculture and sustainability can join and contribute to the network. There is also a small governing group which is open to new members when spaces arise. We anticipate the network will provide benefits to everyone involved. The project is already beginning to attract the interest of staff at Defra and several key corporations with a sign ificant stake in the target crop group.

The bulk of our current food systems are too carbon intensive and only those that respond to the challenge to become less so will survive in the long term, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

Involvement of multiple stakeholders in the process of change towards more sustainable agricultural systems can increase access to knowledge and expertise. It can also encourage resource sharing and greater efficiency, offer opportunities for rich dialogue and reflection, encourage wide appeal and maintain momentum. With added authenticity and authority, this approach can support more holistic outcomes for sustainability with quicker and more robust solutions to help solve the climate change problem.

Big questions for food climate research

Personally, I think the big question on everyone’s lips is about how we can produce the quantities and quality of agriculture goods that our society needs, without jeopardising the food supply and climate needs of the rest of the planet.

My feeling is that an answer to that question may lie partially in replacement of monocultural, intensive agricultural systems with less energy intensive, ‘constructed ecosystems’, or silvo-arable production, which have the ability to utilise a greater proportion of productivity per unit area of land whilst boosting biodiversity.

There is no doubt that advances in science and technology will also have a major role to play; in many areas real technological advances are already being made. However, to continue this positively science needs to remember its ethics. We must not just ask ‘can we?’, but also ‘should we?’

It is the role of pure science to increase humanity’s awareness and knowledge, and in doing so we must also have a real conscience, not just for humanity, but also for the planet, as we apply that knowledge.  Good science remembers that we do not know what we do not know; this sometimes seems to be forgotten.  Our history is riddled with hindsight and the outcomes of the law of unforeseen consequences.  Nature is frequently intolerant; it usually removes its mistakes. 

So I believe we should look far more to nature for how to do things, both at a product and at a systems level.  After 4 billion years of practice it has usually got things about right.  Who are we after just 0.04% of that time to believe we know better? 

Project structure and history

The network is based on 2Degrees platform and is co-managed by myself, (Richard Heathcote), consultants Emily Durrant and Rachael Durrant, and the 2Degrees team.

It sits within and is mostly funded by Heineken’s sustainable agriculture programme. The National Association of Cider Makers is now taking and providing financial input. The network stemmed from a scoping study was undertaken jointly by the Bulmer Foundation and BioDiversity International in 2008.

About the people in the project

Richard Heathcote, Sustainable Development Manager at Heineken UK is leading the project. Rachael Durrant and Emily Durrant have taken on the background research and project management role. However, the nature of the project is such that people across the network all play a role in one way or another – that’s the idea, after all. 

We already have a number of academics and industry experts with specialisms in temperate tree crops on board as well as a broad range of other stakeholders in tree crop agriculture and sustainability from the NGO and business sectors.

For more information about the project see here.