Lancashire farmer produces one-of-a-kind parsnips for M&S - grown using robots and drones

Huntapac Produce in Preston, a long-term supplier of M&S, has teamed up with the retailer to farm and sell lower-carbon, higher quality parsnips following an ‘autonomous field’ trial.

Swapping standard growing practices for the latest technology, the trial involved two robots for bed forming, planting, and weeding, two different types of drones to monitor and maintain crop health and the latest scientific testing on soil health and carbon impact.

During the trial, the Huntapac team adopted a minimum till approach to help keep carbon locked into the soil and used a green fertiliser, alongside the new technology which uses significantly less diesel than a traditional tractor to reduce carbon emissions. AI was also used to monitor and improve crop health. Initial data shows a 46 per cent carbon reduction compared to standard methods.

The technology also helped to reduce the weather impact this year. In March, following the wettest six months in England since 1871, the Huntapac team were able to plant the field with the autonomous robot which wouldn’t have been possible with a traditional tractor. This has helped deliver a 16 per cent higher yield of grade one vegetables compared to the other parsnip fields Huntapac have.

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The first lower-carbon parsnips, grown in Sherburn, North Yorkshire, will be available in selected M&S stores from next month. Huntapac, a family-owned farming business founded in Preston in the 1940s, oversees a network of farmers growing produce nationwide which is then transported to Preston for packing and distribution.

The trial was the first M&S Food project to be funded by the M&S Plan A Net Zero accelerator fund, which the retailer launched to find innovation projects to enable rapid action towards net zero to meet its Plan A goal of being a Net Zero business across its entire supply chain by 2040. 

Andrew Clappen, Technical Director at M&S Food, said: “Innovation is at the heart of M&S Food and our Plan A Accelerator Fund offers us the opportunity to tap into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers. Projects like this help us move towards being a Net Zero business across all our operations and entire supply chain by 2040, whilst focussing on the quality of produce that M&S is famous for.

“Agriculture is one of our biggest contributors to emissions, so it’s important that we find new lower impact farming methods.  Trialling new ways to support our Plan A roadmap to Net Zero is an important step on the journey and this project has helped deliver more parsnips at M&S quality, a carbon reduction and brings together new technologies which if adopted more widely would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector.”

Stephen Shields, Technical & Sustainability Director at Huntapac Produce said: “Our 40-year relationship with M&S has gone from strength to strength and we couldn’t have done this project without the Plan A Accelerator Fund. At Huntapac, we are always looking to adopt new innovations and technologies, so working with a leading retailer such as M&S and having access to the find has been amazing. It has allowed us to adopt new innovations, speeding up project timelines compared to if we were to fund them ourselves.

“Not only are we seeing a reduction of the carbon impact, but we’re also harvesting more parsnips at higher quality, due to us being able to plant the seeds despite bad weather earlier this year. This will have a fantastic impact on our business at scale and we’re aiming to deliver multiple fields farmed this way for next season.”