At M&S, we know that the best food comes from the best farmers – the men and women dedicated to quality who take good care of their land and their animals. So, when it comes to choosing the farms we work with, we go to great lengths.
We make it our business to get to know our farmers. So, whether it’s our meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, fresh milk or fresh fruit and veg, we know where our food comes from, and who has grown or reared it. .
Good food starts with the farmer
Every M&S Select Farm, in every country we source from, must meet our high standards for food safety and quality, animal welfare and environmental protection before they can work with us.
As a starting point, all our farmers must be assured to a recognised farm assurance standard such as the Red Tractor and GLOBALG.A.P. schemes.
On top of that, we have our own detailed M&S Select Farm standards for meat, poultry, fish and shellfish, eggs, fresh milk and fresh whole fruit, veg and salad crops. These set an even higher bar in many areas.
Our dedicated team of agricultural specialists work with our suppliers and our Select Farms to keep improving. We check how our farmers are doing through regular visits and audits and encourage and support them to measure and improve animal health and welfare and environmental outcomes.
What we stand for: the key principles behind
our farming standards
Rigorous food safety standards
Traceability - we know who's grown or reared it
High standards of animal health and welfare
Good environmental stewardship
Fewer pesticides
Animal health and welfare - a top priority
Our high standards for animal welfare cover every stage of an animal’s life. They include a good diet and easy access to fresh water, adequate shelter and a comfortable resting area, sufficient space and prompt treatment should an animal get sick or injured. All our meat and poultry must come from animals which have been pre-slaughter stunned to ensure animal welfare is never compromised.
Our standards go further than legislation and industry practice. For example, we have a 100% free range egg policy covering both whole eggs (since 1997) and eggs used as ingredients in our prepared foods (since 2002). We were also the first major retailer to sell RSPCA Assured milk. This means all our fresh milk has been produced to RSPCA standards for animal welfare – the highest in the dairy industry.
We’re pleased once again to be amongst a handful of companies that have attained the highest marks in the global Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare for our leading approach to animal health and welfare. We were also awarded Compassion in World Farming’s inaugural Cage-Free Award in 2017.
Want to meet our farmers?
Have a look on our interactive map. It shows some of the many farmers we work with around the world including those producing our fresh milk and beef. We plan to extend our map to include farmers who supply us with meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and fresh fruit, veg and salad crops too.
Fresh fruit and veg that doesn’t cost the earth
We source over 100,000 tonnes of fresh whole fruit, vegetables and salad crops each year.
Each piece of fresh whole fruit, vegetables and salad crops comes from farms that meet our produce standards. These cover areas such as food safety, traceability, pesticide use, water stewardship and soil health and set clear standards for worker protection too. All of our direct suppliers are expected to sign up to the M&S Global Sourcing Principles which stipulates our minimum standards for people working in our supply chain including working hours, conditions of work and wages
Farming can have a big impact on the environment and we want to make sure it’s a positive one. So, we’re asking all our growers to achieve a leading industry recognised farm environmental standard – such as the LEAF Marque – by 2020. These recognise food that has been grown with care for the environment. Around 60% of our growers have already done so – so we’re well on the way.
A more secure future for farming
Farming can be a challenging business. To get the best from our farmers, we need to be there to support them too.
One example we’re particularly proud of is the M&S Milk Pool. Founded in 2000, it gives our dairy farmers the stability they need to invest for the future. We pay our pool farmers a price above the cost of production and one of the highest prices of any high-street store or supermarket. When we launched the Milk Pool it was an industry first and today has 44 farms spread across the UK delivering regionally sourced fresh milk into M&S stores and cafés.
We’re also lending our support to projects that help farmers find new ways to reduce water and energy use, improve soil management and encourage biodiversity. For example, we’ve helped our growers convert 2,000 hectares of farmland to wildflower meadows and other bee friendly habitat, as part of the Fair to Nature programme (a scheme set up to help farms provide sustainable agriculture). In South Africa, we’ve partnered with WWF and other retailers to help farmers reduce the impacts of flooding and drought on fruit crops by improving water stewardship.