A partnership between retailer Tesco and supplier Branston has produced its first crop of “highly sustainable potatoes”.

The potatoes went on sale in Tesco stores at the end of last month as part of its bid to support farmers and suppliers to reach net zero targets.

The 500 tonnes of potatoes have been grown at a low carbon concept farm in Lincolnshire.

This uses a combination of low carbon growing techniques such as, using circular economy fertilisers like CCm, which locks in CO2 as part of the process, says Tesco.

Other techniques used include minimum cultivations and transitioning the machinery’s fuel to hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel, which has an up to 90% lower carbon footprint compared to conventional fossil diesel.

Tesco says the resulting crop of Georgina potatoes has used 50% lower carbon emissions as a result of the partnership.

“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,” said Tesco’s head of sustainable agriculture and fisheries Natalie Smith.

“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.”

Andy Blair, field technical manager at Branston, added: “It’s a huge milestone to have achieved a lower average carbon footprint in the production of this crop of Georgina potatoes, compared to conventional production averages.

“The findings from this process will support the wider industry in edging forward towards national sustainability targets, which is exactly the outcome we’d hoped for.

“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.

“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.”

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