Morrisons customers have raised £20 million to support farms and the countryside by choosing to pay a little more for products in the For Farmers range. The range includes Chuckle Eggs, that cost an extra 1p per egg.
The funds have been ploughed back into a range of farm schemes to improve biodiversity and further improve animal welfare, the retailer said.
In October 2015, Morrisons was the first British retailer to launch a dairy product where part of the purchase price went directly back to farmers. Milk For Farmers was the original product – at 10p-a-litre more than Morrisons own label standard milk – with the full difference passed on to its dairy farmers. The range now includes Cheese For Farmers, Cream For Farmers and Eggs For Farmers which similarly give customers the opportunity to pay a little more to support farmers directly.
Funds from the For Farmers range have helped the farmed and natural environment. Morrisons For Farmers ‘Chuckle Eggs’, costing an extra 1p per egg more, has enabled farmers to invest money in planting woodland and creating insect-friendly wildflower habitats for their free-range chickens to roam around in. To date 169 acres have been planted. This month a similar insect habitat scheme is being rolled out across all Morrisons milk farms.
Sophie Throup, Head of Agriculture at Morrisons, said: “Our farmers continue to face some uncertainty due to the impact of Brexit and the pandemic. So we are pleased to have passed on £20 million from our For Farmers range to help fund initiatives which may otherwise have suffered from under-investment.”