A new generation of lower-carbon potatoes has arrived in Tesco stores, marking a milestone moment for sustainable farming in the UK. The launch is the result of a close partnership between Tesco, Branston and British farmers, turning years of on-farm trials into a product customers can actually pick up and take home.
The potatoes come from Tesco’s low-carbon concept farm in Lincolnshire, where growers have been testing practical ways to reduce emissions while maintaining the quality and consistency retailers depend on. From alternative fertilisers and renewable energy to smarter storage and soil management, the farm acts as a real-world testing ground for climate-focused agriculture that works at commercial scale.
“The ambition of the low carbon concept farm is not only to see how close we can get to a net zero potato, but to understand the interactions between crops as you move from one to the next,” Andy Blair, Branston’s Field Technical Manager, said. “We’ve got several crops in rotation, so now we’ve made significant progress with the potatoes, we’re looking at the carbon impact, soil health and biological impact of the process. The findings from this process will support the wider industry in edging forward towards national sustainability targets. We’ve made huge progress but to get to net zero we’re eager to work with others to see what technology and innovations can be used to take us even further.”
Indeed, the concept farm is not just about one crop. It tests multiple rotations, examining carbon impact, soil health, and biological interactions to identify methods that can be scaled across other farms. Future plans include exploring cover crops to improve soil nutrition, trialling biomethane-powered tractors, and investing in advanced fertilisers like R-Leaf.
Tesco’s Head of Sustainable Agriculture and Fisheries, Natalie Smith, highlighted the wider goal: “One of the aims of the farm is to test and learn from a variety of low carbon approaches, which in turn can de-risk the process for other farms in our supply chain and further afield. Increasing funding for innovation in UK agriculture is one of the key recommendations in our Greenprint for UK Farming report, and it’s vital farmers have the ability to invest in new technology and approaches, if we’re to tackle the challenges caused by climate change and nature loss.”
By combining innovation with real-world farming, Tesco and Branston are showing that lower-carbon agriculture can be practical, scalable and commercially viable, potentially offering a blueprint for the wider UK potato industry.
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