Avara Foods is extending its carbon footprint reporting to include even more of its agricultural supply chain. In 2021, it established a farm carbon footprint from a sample of farms last year; it said it would now build a complete footprint for its entire farming base by 2025.
As part of the work to complete a full and detailed footprint of scope 3 emissions, it identified that agriculture accounted for 23% of emissions.
This started with a successful sample group of farms, covering 30% of Avara’s chicken farming base. This year’s footprinting exercise will double that number, building towards the 2025 target, which is to have carbon footprint reporting in place for every farm in their supply chain.
By measuring data for individual farms, the company is able to create bespoke footprints on a farm-by-farm basis. This level of detail means it can create targeted and specific reductions plans, to meet the unique needs of each farm.
Avara Foods said it had already reduced its footprint through decarbonisation: reducing scope one & two emissions 24% and scope three by 17% since 2019.
Sustainability director Andrew Brodie said: “Expanding our footprinting exercise to 60% of chicken farms is a really positive and vitally important next step on our ongoing journey to NetZero. For us to reduce our overall footprint, it’s essential that we understand what it is and where it occurs, and you can only achieve this by measuring it. Data has always been at the heart of our environmental reduction plans and this project will deliver accurate, robust and accessible information on the profile of our farms scope 3 emissions, helping us and our suppliers, drive meaningful change together.”
David Neilson, agricultural director at Avara added: “A partnership approach with our suppliers and customers is the key to driving change in our scope 3 emissions, so it’s been really pleasing to see our farmers backing this initiative and working closely alongside us to build a clearer picture of our wider footprint”.
Grower, Tom Powell, who’s participating in the exercise, commented: “it’s great to be working with Avara on this project, and extremely valuable to our farming business to be benchmarked based on emissions, and understand how we compare to other farms by measuring our footprint. The feedback covers key areas, like feed, fuel and electricity, and importantly highlights opportunities for improvement. So really, it’s benefiting everyone involved; growers can use it to highlight hotspots and drive efficiencies saving money, and Avara are able to improve their data to better understand their scope 3 footprint.”