Farmers in trial to make the KitKat bar greener
One of the world’s most valuable companies is teaming up with a community of farmers to trial regeneratively farmed wheat in the nation’s favourite chocolate bar.
As KitKat marks more than 90 years as a much-loved British staple, Nestlé is working with Wildfarmed to bring their environment-restoring wheat into the wafer of the bar.
The multinational firm said the taste and snap of KitKats won’t change, but the wheat “will be upping its sustainability game”.
At this year’s annual general meeting of the world's largest food and beverage company, attendees heard significant progress was being made in its sustainability efforts and environmental responsibility had become central to its operations.
Trials to use a proportion of the wheat in the wafer started last year in Nestlé’s York factory, and now it will be used in the 1.5 billion KitKat bars which are made in the city every year.
The wheat comes from Wildfarmed’s community of British farmers who all follow a set of standards based on holistic farming practices aimed at reducing environmental impact and bringing life back to soil.
The practices focus on the key principles of regenerative agriculture and include limiting soil disturbance, maintaining year-round soil cover, promoting plant diversity and keeping living roots in the soil. Together the practices help to increase field and farm biodiversity as well as improve soil health, minimise water pollution and reduce carbon.
Wildfarmed was founded by Andy Cato, George Lamb and Edd Lees, who set out to build a community of farmers dedicated to farming in a way which restores soil health and improves the impact on the environment, bringing nature back to farms and landscapes.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Wildfarmed,” said Dr Emma Keller, Head of Sustainability at Nestlé. “This collaboration is all about making the KitKat everyone has known and loved for the last 90 years in an even more sustainable way, all while supporting British wheat farmers to adopt regenerative farming practices that are intended to support carbon reduction and increase biodiversity. With this partnership, it's not just about growing crops a bit differently; it’s about working to grow and support a more sustainable future for farmers and the landscapes we depend on.
“As a large food and drink company with a diverse supply chain underpinned by a network of farmers, collaboration is essential to help us achieve our sustainability goals. Wildfarmed is helping us lead the charge to ensure that our much-loved KitKat bars are made with sustainability at their core. ”
Edd Lees, Wildfarmed chief executive and co-founder, said the initiative represented “a big step forward in our mission to make regenerative farming the default”. He said: “Wildfarmed exists to make resilient, nature-rich farming mainstream. For too long, nature has effectively been priced at zero in our food system. Farmers have been pushed to maximise yield, often at the expense of soil, biodiversity and resilience. We believe it’s time to flip that model.”