McDonald’s Receives Sustainable Food and Farming Award

McDonald’s and FAI’s regenerative farming practices have been noticed by Compassion in World Farming for their commitments to sustainable sourcing across all areas of meat procurement. The fast-food chain has been working on a regenerative grazing project in the UK and Ireland - in partnership with FAI - to support the sustainable production of beef products. This project makes use of farming practices, which involve ensuring there is no bare soil in grazing areas, maximising root depth by leaving the grass to grow longer, and using longer rest periods to optimise the soil health and the impacts of grazing. 

McDonald’s became partners with FAI to reduce the rate of climate change and bring back biodiversity through the implementation of Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing. The partnership resulted in a four-year project - now in its second year - to improve the organisations’ understanding of the barriers, impacts and benefits of regenerative farming practices. According to McDonald’s, AMP regenerative beef farming is already seeing positive effects. 

“We are incredibly proud to have won this award for our work on this ground-breaking project, alongside our brilliant partners FAI,” says Harriet Wilson, Agriculture and Sustainable Sourcing Manager at McDonald’s UK & Ireland. “The project presents a real opportunity to explore the ways in which we can futureproof the industry and drive more resilient production, to ensure our future beef supply contributes to a sustainable food system where people, local communities, animals and the planet can thrive. We can’t wait to see the impact this project could have on the UK beef industry.”

The project will also result in a new learning platform for farmers in the UK and Ireland to support them in making the change to regenerative agriculture. “Regenerative agriculture represents a path towards a new climate future. While there is a lot of interest around the potential for regenerative agriculture, I’m pleased that McDonald’s had the early insight to work with us to explore its possibilities,” says Clare Hill, Director of Regenerative Agriculture at FAI.

“We are only into our second grazing season of the project, and we are already starting to see the changes on the farm and are sharing the results with the wider supply chain. It’s fantastic to see that our work has been recognised by Compassion in World Farming with this award, and we can’t wait to share the findings with the industry.“