The Lakes Free Range Egg Company, Eden Valley
Who:
Helen and David Brass
Where:
The Lakes Free Range Egg Co. Ltd, Stainton, Penrith CA11 0EE
What:
Producing and packing free range and organic free range eggs
Key Low Carbon Aspect:
Carbon counting, tree planting and carbon sequestration
About the company:
The history of The Lakes Free Range Egg Company as a free range egg supplier is firmly rooted in farming tradition. Agricultural heritage is something that owners David and Helen Brass are proud of.
For generations, David’s family has had a rich history of livestock farming, moving to farm in Cumbria in the 1870s and finally settling at Meg Bank, Stainton near Penrith in 1935. The farm was a traditional dairy, beef, and sheep farm.
The company continues to be a family-owned business producing and packing free range and organic free range eggs. Based in the heart of Cumbria, ‘The Lakes’ is industry-leading in its approach to animal welfare and environmental provenance.
Set up in 1997, The Lakes Free Range Egg Company has always adhered to a simple ethos – to provide the best habitats for their organic and free-range hens. This involves ‘range enrichment’ (tree planted pasture) supported by biodiversity action plans and ensuring their producers follow the same approach. It is a sustainable, environmentally friendly production model that works.
With over 80 contracted farms across the UK, as far south as Bristol, as far east as Hull, and north to Edinburgh, they produce half a billion eggs a year sold to UK retailers. They are keen to point out that most of their producers farm within 30 miles of the packing centre, which allows them to keep transportation emissions to a minimum.
“Since day one we have followed a belief that environmental provenance and animal welfare go hand in hand and can create commercially viable, sustainable family farms.”
Focus:
For over 25 years, they have been planting trees on all of their contracted farms to reduce CO2e emissions and increase carbon sequestration. They have managed this aspect of the business without grant support because they believe it is the right thing to do.
The trees provide shelter for the hens, encouraging the birds to range and improving bird welfare. All of their farms have biodiversity action plans in place. The trees help provide food for a range of pollinators and can reabsorb up to 40% of ammonia emissions from the air. The idea is that emissions from the shed are blown by the wind into dense trees, where the ammonia is reabsorbed by the trees as it passes through the canopy.
Planting trees for shelterbelt forms part of the English Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) managed by the Forestry Commission. Jane and David plant shelter belts at differing depths to suit the needs of the flock. Chickens like space, so trees are planted more densely around the chicken sheds for optimal ammonia recapture and more sparsely across the free-ranging land. The current grant systems don’t necessarily offer enough flexibility for farmers, although, through consultation, they are improving all the time. The grants need to fit around the active farm stewardship schemes and other Defra incentives.
Measuring Scope 3 emissions
Helen and David are currently working to establish baseline data of the Scope 3 emissions across all 80+ Lakes Free Range Egg farms utilizing a commercially available carbon footprint assessment tool.
The main focus has been on tree planting and ammonia reduction. They are now working on their Scope 3 emissions, which are the off-farm emissions from their supply chain. 85% of their on-farm emissions are associated with feed. To tackle this, they are looking at how they can best source high protein, nutrient-dense feed with an 8% ration of soy from sustainable sources. Sourcing organic feed with the right blend of soy, maize, barley, beans, and sunflower that contains the right amount of amino acids for their chicken’s welfare is a significant step forward in reducing their “at scale emissions.”
They source all their trees from Trees Please in Northumberland. They plant trees suited to the biodiversity of the area – mixed deciduous trees including willow and hazel for early pollinators, silver birch, oak, and field maple with some additional holly and evergreen pines for continued ammonia reduction in the winter months.
Their next step will be to benchmark the carbon emissions of all of their contracted farms and analyze trends in emissions reduction. This will help them build an evidence-based plan for emissions and cost reductions across all of their farms.
Helen and David's top tips for business owners interested in sustainability:
- Just make a start.
- The future is not behind you!
- 80% of the time, success comes through perseverance.
- Get as much baseline data as possible to work from – it doesn’t matter which calculator you use, just stick to the same one. It’s about your business and your targets.
- Find a balance – you can’t do everything, but you can do something. Take a pragmatic approach.
Find out more about this project
Where can I find out more about Low Carbon practices?
The Low Carbon Food Programme in Cumbria have put together a handy list of external resources designed to help you learn and achieve your reduced carbon culinary goals. From tips to tables, facts to farming networks, we have compiled Videos, podcasts and web links to help.
