Lidl is the first supermarket retailer in Ireland to launch an innovative sustainability support programme for Irish beef farmers. The Lidl Sustainable Beef Programme has been developed by the retailer in partnership with Lidl’s beef supplier Liffey Meats, Bord Bia and more than 20 beef farmers from across Ireland who will work together to implement innovative sustainable farming practices in order to reduce carbon emissions associated with beef farming.
The industry-leading Lidl Sustainable Beef Programme will be measured through AgNav, the farmer-centric sustainability support platform developed by Teagasc, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and Bord Bia – Origin Green.
AgNav allows participating farmers to collate verified data on their farming practices and to regularly measure progress. Ongoing supports will also be offered to the farmers. This will result in informed implementation of on-farm actions, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving water quality and biodiversity and contributing to better animal welfare.
More than 20 beef farmers currently supplying to Lidl Ireland from counties Cavan, Galway, Longford, Meath, Roscommon, Westmeath and Wexford have already signed up to participate in the programme, with that number expected to double over the coming months. Through the industry-leading programme, participating farmers will benefit from on-farm knowledge sharing sessions where farmers and external industry experts will share and demonstrate best practices in sustainability.
With initial investment of more than €200,000 over four years, Lidl Ireland aims to create greater awareness of the environmental challenges associated with beef farming amongst consumers and to share insight on the initiatives undertaken by the participating farmers to make beef more sustainable, with a view to translating the impact of the programme in a clear way for customers shopping Lidl’s quality Irish beef products.
Participating Beef Farmers
Initial investment
Beef is hugely important to Irish agriculture and the recent granting of Protected Geographic Indication status for Irish grass-fed beef is further recognition of the quality of the product. However, the industry faces a significant challenge in reducing its environmental footprint and, as a responsible retailer, we know that we have an important role to play in supporting our beef farmers to reduce their environmental impact. We appreciate that this issue is very important to our customers as well, and that is why we will be keeping them informed of developments from the Lidl Sustainable Beef Programme as our farmers trial new methods and processes to make Irish beef a more sustainable product.
