The Carlsberg Group plans to expand the use of regenerative barley across brands in the UK, Finland and France
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Carlsberg Group is advancing its global shift to regenerative agriculture. The beer giant is making strides towards 100% regenerative agricultural practices by 2040 with three pioneering brands in the UK, Finland and France.
The brand commitments are part of the group’s new ZERO Farming Footprint goal as part of its recently launched ESG program, Together Towards Zero and Beyond. In it, the Danish brewery has committed to sourcing 30% of all agricultural raw materials worldwide from regenerative practices and sustainable sources by 2030 and to reach 100% by 2040. Regenerative agriculture aims to promote biodiversity, restore soil health and support natural carbon sequestration, a key component in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
Through some of its most challenging goals to date, the Carlsberg Group hopes that working towards and implementing this new goal will help accelerate the beer industry’s transition to a regenerative model. And while rethinking the farm to bottle process is a challenging journey that requires multiple stakeholder alignments and value chain reconfigurations, early examples from the UK, Finland and France are encouraging:
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- In the UK, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) has committed to 100% renewable barley for Carlsberg Danish Pilsner by 2027 and for all UK brands by 2031.
- In Finland, partner farmers supply Sinebrychoff, a Carlsberg Group company, with regenerative barley for the annual KOFF Christmas beer, while actively promoting regenerative agriculture among Finnish barley farmers.
- In France, Kronenbourg SAS already has 45 partner growers who supply traceable ‘responsible barley’ and the 1664 brand has committed to using this for 100% of the barley in its Blonde brews by 2026. As a brand that holds 10% of the French beer market, 1664 will help push the local industry in a new direction.
Simon Boas Hoffmeyer, Senior Director of Sustainability & ESG at the Carlsberg Group, says: “We cannot achieve our goals alone. Partnerships are key throughout the value chain, which is why we work closely with local farmers, traders, maltsters, agronomists and NGOs who provide expertise in the transition to regeneratively grown barley. Over time, this will allow us to offer our consumers and customers lower carbon beers and help improve the ecosystems we depend on. We will work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that we as a company and our industry as a whole strive for a ZERO farming footprint.”
New regenerative commitments in the UK
CMBC and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) have initiated the transition to 100% regenerative barley in the UK, engaging the first 23 farmers to grow an estimated 7,000 tonnes of regenerative barley in 2023. The regenerative farming protocol was developed to adapt to the Align group practices while taking into account the specific needs and context for UK farmers.
Jonathan Lane, Managing Director UK at ADM, says: “ADM is delighted to support this exciting project as further evidence of how we are working with farmers here in the UK and around the world to embrace regenerative farming as part of our common endeavour to expand reduce carbon and make our food system more sustainable. At ADM, we have years of experience supporting farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture and we understand the importance of creating value for participants in all value chains in which we operate.”
Alice Andrew, Associate Partner at Ceres Rural, supports CMBC’s journey and says: “Agricultural systems around the world vary greatly in terms of climate, soil type, crops grown, size and technology – so adapting the approach to all markets is key to success essential. Government and industry support for farmers will help scale these practices – from providing expert advice and facilitating peer-to-peer learning to collecting local data to give more farmers confidence to embrace new practices to adjust.”
Stakeholder collaboration in Finland
One of the initial challenges in transitioning to regenerative agriculture is changing the mindset of farmers to consider longer-term soil health before crop yield. This, coupled with the current lack of universal standards for regenerative agriculture, means that stakeholders helping to facilitate the transition are invaluable. The Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) works through its Carbon Action platform as an intermediary between regenerative farmers, scientists and the wider value chain, resulting in Finland’s oldest and most popular Christmas beer in 2022 being brewed with malted barley from two regenerative farms.
Sirkku Puumala, a Finnish farmer who supplies regenerative barley for KOFF Christmas Beer says: “Our farm is one of a hundred Carbon Action farms in Finland. On the Carbon Action platform, farmers and researchers share their experiences and know-how about regenerative agriculture. It is also important to us that those who buy our raw materials share our values and that all actors in the chain participate in the environmental work that we do together.”
The first traceable supply chain for responsible barley in France
In France, the group’s Kronenbourg 1664 brand has partnered with InVivo Group’s Malteries Soufflet and Soufflet Agriculture to create the country’s first traceable “responsible barley” supply chain. The goal is for Kronenbourg 1664 Blonde to be brewed with 100% malted barley sourced from this new agricultural value chain by 2026, with 250 partner farmers producing 5,000 hectares of responsibly sourced barley traceable using blockchain technology.
For this ‘responsible barley’, a range of agricultural and environmental practices have been agreed with stakeholders in the value chain and specifications implemented to maintain high quality standards. These help to manage agroecological zones sustainably and to promote biodiversity; Reduction of the carbon footprint through soil analyzes and optimized fertilization as well as additional carbon capture and biomass production; guarantee optimal barley quality; guarantee fair remuneration for partner farmers and points of sale; and to ensure transparency about the French provenance.
Guillaume Couture, CEO of Malteries Soufflet, says: “We are very pleased to be collaborating with Kronenbourg SAS in this value chain approach that promotes good agroecological practices. As a committed malting partner, Malteries Soufflet has always been very concerned about the challenges faced by all stakeholders, from farmer to consumer. As such, we support farmers’ products while developing sustainable practices to continuously improve our response to customer expectations.”
Together towards regenerative agriculture
The Carlsberg Group is actively engaged in global collaboration through its new membership in the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform) – created to actively promote and support the global development of sustainable agriculture. Together with experts and other industry stakeholders, the group will learn and share best practices, co-develop and apply specialized programs and align towards a common approach to regenerative agriculture through their engagement in a dedicated working group. Achieving Carlsberg Group’s ZERO Farming Footprint ambitions will only be possible by collaborating with multiple stakeholders on a new path forward that reshapes the value chain for improved ecosystem health and long-term business resilience.
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SOURCE Carlsberg Group
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