We are absolutely delighted to announce that we have won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development! Farrington’s Mellow Yellow is one of 205 organisations nationally to be granted an esteemed Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2021 and one of only 17 to be recognised for our excellence in sustainable development.
We have been awarded a Queen’s Award for our industry leading approach to sustainability: from our commitment to carbon and plastic neutrality, to our LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) Marque standards, to Duncan’s work monitoring and increasing the carbon stored in our soils.
“Winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise is a huge honour, and being awarded it for sustainable development in particular is a real testament to our commitment to the environment! Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do and I am so proud to be recognised for our decades of hard work and dedication in this area.
Now more than ever, we all need to put our planet first, working towards a more sustainable future. I hope that seeing a small company from a village in Northamptonshire win such a prestigious award will encourage other small and medium sized businesses to take the next step in their sustainability journey, so we can all do our bit for the planet.”
– Duncan Farrington
Now in its 55th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country. Following on from our award win, we will be continuing our sustainability work with Duncan involved in an EU funded project called AgricaptureCO2 working towards creating a globally recognised standard for measuring soil carbon content.
Learn more about how we look after the environment…
Carbon Neutral
We have measured, reduced and offset all of our carbon emissions and achieved the Carbon Neutral Gold Standard from the United Nations. We are also signatories of the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative.
After reducing our carbon emissions through LEAF farming strategies, we offset our remaining carbon emissions by supporting reforestation initiatives and green energy schemes. This means that Farrington’s Mellow Yellow is not adding any emissions to our atmosphere.
Plastic Neutral
We have partnered with rePurpose Global, and we now fund the removal of the same amount of plastic from the environment as we use in all of our packaging.
This means that for every 1 kg of plastic in Farrington’s Mellow Yellow packaging, we fund the removal & recycling of 1 kg of plastic that would otherwise have been landfilled, flushed into our oceans or littered our environment.
LEAF Marque
We are a LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) Marque producer, this means we are at the forefront of environmentally aware agriculture.
LEAF encourages sustainable and environmentally responsible farming through a system called Integrated Farm Management. In simple terms, this means they encourage farmers to look at each part of their farm individually and ensure the whole farming process is environmentally sustainable.
Soil Carbon Sequestration
Soil is a brilliantly effective carbon store. The world’s soils actually hold more than three times the amount of carbon than is in the atmosphere!
The process of soil storing carbon is called carbon sequestration and through our sustainable farming, we are storing a huge amount of carbon in our soils, stopping it being released into our atmosphere.
Solar Panels
We have installed solar panels on our barn roofs so that the power of the sun not only helps grow our crops, but now also helps power our oil presses.
Our solar panels can be found on two barn roofs, which are generating over half the total electricity we use at Bottom Farm in a completely renewable and environmentally friendly way!
Tree Planting
Trees are fantastic for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, providing shelter and homes for birds, insects and small mammals, and helping to reduce flooding and soil erosion.
Over the years, Duncan & his father have planted thousands of trees on our farm and last year we held a community tree planting event, getting a further 100 trees in the ground! Read more here.
