The Prince’s Countryside Fund have launched a new guide aimed at providing greater clarity around environmental issues and processes for UK farmers. The guide has been launched in partnership with McDonalds in response to research which shows as many as 67% of farmers believe excessive jargon is used in conversations around sustainability and the environment. Research by The Prince’s Countryside Fund also discovered that 81% of UK farmers do want to do more to address climate change but many are limited in doing so due to a lack of clarity around such terminology. The guide, titled ‘A-Zero: A farmer’s guide to breaking free from environmental jargon’ was launched at an attended by HRH The Prince of Wales, Founder and Patron of The Prince’s Countryside Fund and features clear explanations around 50 key sustainability terms as well as providing practical examples as to what these sustainability terms would mean for UK farming practices and approaches.
HRH The Prince of Wales commented “We must recognise the day-to-day pressures that farmers are under, and provide our support to help them move forward – as they say, you can’t go green if you’re actually in the red. It’s self-evident that people cannot do things differently if they don’t know what is being asked of them, and it is unhelpful perhaps that many terms used to describe environmental processes are somewhat obscure and off-putting. So I really am delighted that my Countryside Fund has asked farmers themselves what would actually help here, and have put together this helpful booklet, which explains many of the more obscure terms in clear language. I am enormously grateful to McDonald’s who have most generously supported many of my Countryside Fund’s activities to-date going back to 2011.”
Paul Pomroy, CEO, McDonald’s UK & Ireland said: “We are at a moment when we all need to accelerate our ambition and work even harder to look after each other and our planet. At McDonald’s, our partnership with the 23,000 British and Irish farmers who produce the quality ingredients for our menu is essential in creating real change. It’s why I’m so passionate about our partnership with The Prince’s Countryside Fund and I hope this guide makes conversations about sustainability across the farming community more open and accessible. We’re committed to continuing to play our part in providing the farming community with the support, knowledge and confidence to address future challenges head-on.”
Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “Earlier this year our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, called for more accessible language to be used to enable everyone, including the agricultural industry, to better understand the nature of the climate crisis. For the PCF, this guide is an important next step, particularly for our smaller family farms, to encourage engagement with important sustainability and environmental schemes and innovation which we believe will have a real positive impact in producing food while also enhancing Nature. We are immensely grateful to McDonald’s UK for partnering with us on this project, and for their continuing support of the PCF’s wider work in enabling family farms to thrive.”
To view the guide visit princescountrysidefund.org.uk.
