Wildfarmed, co-founded by Andy Cato, George Lamb, and Edd Lees, has become a prominent UK regenerative food venture. It supplies wheat, flour, oats, and barley to major retailers like Tesco, Waitrose, and Greggs, as well as foodservice providers including Nando's, Ask Italian, and Brakes, a Sysco-owned wholesaler. The company pays approximately 150 British farmers a guaranteed premium to grow regeneratively, and farmers can gain immediate certification by meeting a short list of requirements. Wildfarmed also has agreements with water companies to pay growers for avoiding polluting fertilizers and pesticides.
The company's growth strategy, dubbed "the long road to Greggs," has involved making businesses rethink provenance by promoting the quality and taste of regeneratively farmed wheat, alongside its environmental benefits. For example, Azzurri Group, owner of Ask Italian, absorbed a 50% increase in flour costs to switch to Wildfarmed, citing a corresponding 50% reduction in carbon emissions. Edd Lees points out that while flour is 70% of a pizza, its cost is less than other ingredients, allowing a significant impact for a relatively small premium.
Wildfarmed emphasizes data to support its claims. Research from Bristol University showed Wildfarmed fields had almost four times as many bees and nearly twice the insect biomass compared to neighboring land. A Rothamsted partnership indicated that a 1% rise in soil carbon could store about a quarter-million additional tonnes of greenhouse gases per hectare. The Zero Carbon Forum and Wildfarmed suggest that 3.6 million tonnes of carbon could be saved by 2030 if the UK hospitality and brewing sector switched to regenerative flour and barley. Wildfarmed also successfully campaigned for changes to the UK’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), allowing farmers to be rewarded for combining food production and nature recovery.
Andy Cato argues that regenerative farming is not idealism but inevitable, highlighting the economic model that supports farmers in delivering benefits like clean water, resilient crops, and biodiversity. While acknowledging that not everyone can afford to pay more for food, he believes a significant number of consumers would pay a small premium, perhaps 5p extra for a loaf, to support such a system. The company's vibrant packaging and farmer profiles aim to connect consumers with the source of their food, furthering the brand's mission to transform lives and landscapes through nature-positive agriculture.
