Oat buyers demand farm-level sustainability data

Oat growers are being asked to provide more detailed environmental data as processors and brands seek to strengthen supply chains following a run of weather-hit harvests.

Grain trader Robin Appel Ltd has partnered with Soil Association Exchange to measure 15 supplying farms against 40 metrics. The initiative reflects growing demand from food and drink companies for evidence of how crops are produced, while giving growers independent advice to improve resilience.

Each farm will establish baselines covering six areas: carbon, soil, water, biodiversity, animal welfare and social responsibility. The approach is designed to provide a whole-farm assessment rather than focusing solely on carbon.

Buyer pressure

Processors and oat drink brands supplied by Robin Appel increasingly want robust farm-level information to support sustainability claims and secure reliable British supplies. Robin Appel supplies oat groats to Somerset-based processor Framptons Ltd, which specialises in producing bases for the UK oat drinks market.

Tom Wood, trading director at Robin Appel, said the scheme had to deliver practical value to growers rather than simply satisfy reporting requirements.

“Our growers are some of the best in the country, and this gives them the tools to prove it. There’s a lot of loose talk about sustainability in our industry, and I wasn’t interested in green window-dressing or a box-ticking exercise.” Farmers will receive one-to-one support from an independent adviser to interpret their results and identify possible improvements. A workshop will allow the group to share practical experience.

Weather risk

The initiative follows several difficult seasons for UK arable farming. Research by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit estimated three poor harvests this decade resulted in cumulative weather-related cereal losses of £2.3bn.

Extreme rainfall affected harvests in 2020 and 2024, while heat and drought hit production in 2025. Oats could be particularly exposed to changing conditions because the crop performs best in cooler, wetter environments. Robin Appel expects production may have to move further west if current climate trends continue.

Tom Frampton, operations manager at Wiltshire farming business J M Stratton & Co, said increasingly wet winters and dry summers were already affecting farming decisions. “For me, the value of this programme is having the data to show us how our soils are performing now, where improvements can be made, and how we can make them more resilient for whatever weather conditions we may face in the years to come.”

Practical evidence

The programme will pay for soil data collection and laboratory costs. Exchange technicians will also assess measures including plant species diversity, hedgerow quality and bird populations.

Its software will combine those results with third-party information to create the 40-metric assessment.

Mike Bond, sales manager at Soil Association Exchange, said measurement could add value throughout the supply chain. “The Exchange metrics provide scientifically rigorous data, and by pairing this insight with independent expert advice for each farm, we can turn that measurement into change on the ground.”

Results are already being collected and will feed into individual farm action plans as well as supply-chain reporting. For growers, that means environmental measurement is increasingly serving two purposes: identifying where businesses can withstand weather shocks and providing the evidence increasingly demanded by oat buyers.