Fields with Farm Forward logo.

Farm Forward

We’ve been working with farmers for over 20 years. In 2012, we created Farm Forward after consulting farmers in the UK.

We use UK organic milk except in our milkshakes, frappes, Iced Latte, McFlurry® desserts, and Chocolate, Banana, and Strawberry flavour milk, and in Northern Ireland, Flahavan's Quick Oats and Happy Meal milk.

Our Farm Forward programme

Farm Forward is our agriculture programme with three big aims: supporting resilient farmers, raising animal welfare standards and making environmental improvements. 

Since 2012 we’ve partnered with local suppliers and experts to make scalable environmental improvements in our supply chain. In recent years, we have evolved our Farm Forward programme to invest in the farming industry through research, education and training. Our continued commitment to the programme will help us deliver our goal of supporting resilient livelihoods and sustainable outcomes for over 23,000 British and Irish Farmers. 

As part of the programme McDonald’s works in partnership with its suppliers across four key areas:

  • We inspire, to encourage new and diverse talent in the industry, providing access to career opportunities in food and farming.
  • We innovate, investing in the latest research and technology to support farm sustainability and animal welfare. 
  • We illustrate, working with farmers and suppliers to share best practice and implement innovations within our supply chain.
  • And we influence, using our scale to encourage industry progress and to support the future resilience of the British and Irish farming industry.

We work closely with farmers across our supply chain to make sure Farm Forward is always relevant and useful to them.

Farmer in a field holding potatoes.

Regenerative agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming and food production that focusses on renewal and restoration of the natural resources it interacts with to rebuild soils, improve water retention and utilisation, and promote biodiversity.

Our focus is on developing regenerative agriculture initiatives in each of our priority supply chains to promote activity in each of these three areas. This includes beef, potatoes and dairy, working in partnership with our suppliers through innovative pilots. 

Four beef cows.

Investing in beef sustainability

We continue to fund innovative carbon reduction pilots on beef farms in the UK and Ireland. This includes the Pathway to Net Zero project at Brongain farm in Wales, where Greg and Rowan Pickstock are aiming to produce net zero beef using commercially viable methods by 2030. Key focus areas are grassland management, livestock health and genetics. This project is supported by McDonald's UK & Ireland and OSI Europe and developed by Promar International.  

In 2023, we launched a project involving 11 beef farms, covering approximately 7,500 acres and over 3,500 cattles in England and Wales, to share best practices in regenerative grazing, building on our Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing Project with FAI. This project will measure the impact of applying regenerative principles on nature, soil, biodiversity, water, carbon sequestration and climate resilience.

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Collaborating on the future of dairy

In 2023 we launched a new dairy innovation farm with father and son farmers Mike and Will Tizzard. We aim to identify a bespoke roadmap to achieve net zero on the farm in the South West of England by 2030 and share what we learn across our Organic Dairy Network. 

We work closely with our dairy supplier Arla to support 54 organic dairy farmers to share best practice including the recording of animal welfare metrics and quarterly meetings on putting sustainability into practice on farms. Since 2021, we have also sponsored one of the organic dairy farmers to be part of Arla’s Regenerative Farming Pilot Network to accelerate learnings through additional consultancy and technology focused on establishing measurement of regenerative outcomes.

Farmer in a field holding potatoes.

Sustainable Fries Fund in partnership with McCain

In the UK we launched our Sustainable Fries Fund in 2020 in partnership with McCain and committed to invest £1 million with British potato growers to improve the sustainability of their businesses with a focus on soil health and water efficiency. In 2023, through the fund, three innovation hubs across different growing regions were established to research regenerative growing practices in potato production. The fund is supporting growers with innovation and knowledge exchange through training days and information resources, demonstrating the benefits of regenerative farming to growers and the environment.

Encouraging new and diverse talent

As one of the biggest supporters of British and Irish agriculture, we want to inspire the next generation of farming talent. We want to help  young people understand the variety of roles the UK&I food or farming industry can offer and showcase the real benefits of a career in this space.  

Find out more about how we champion careers in the food and farming industry.

Logo for the School of Sustainable Food and Farming.

School of Sustainable Food and Farming

In October 2021 McDonald’s announced a unique partnership with Morrisons, National Farmers Union and Harper Adams University to launch the first School of Sustainable Food and Farming (SSFF) in the UK. 

The SSFF aims to educate, inspire and empower current and future farmers to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the whole of agriculture in England and Wales by 2040, within a sustainable farming and food system.

The School brings together recent research and learning on farming using sustainable methods. Based at Harper Adams University in Newport, the School’s courses will be designed using the work on sustainable farming and food production by the University through this unique collaboration. The courses are run by some of the UK’s leading experts in agronomy, veterinary practice and nutrition. In 2022, we supported the School’s ‘Journey to Net Zero Competition’ where farmers and producers pitched for £50,000 of project funding for scalable sustainable solutions.

European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability logo.

European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS)

We are founding members of ERBS, which is shaping the future of beef sustainability in Europe. The four themes of work for the ERBS, which are supported by eight goals, are to: improve the environmental footprint of farming systems, to preserve the effectiveness of animal medicines in beef farming through responsible use of antibiotics, to improve animal health and welfare, and to improve the resilience of farm businesses.

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The Prince’s Countryside Fund logo

The Royal Countryside Fund

McDonald’s UK & Ireland have been proud to work with The Royal Countryside Fund, a charity founded by HM King Charles III (when The Prince of Wales) in 2010, to provide life-changing business and environmental skills training to over 500 farming families across the UK since 2020. The Ready for Change and Savings in Soil programmes form an important part of The Royal Countryside Fund’s commitment to improving the economic resilience of farming families. As farmers in the UK adapt to changing policy and funding frameworks, providing expert, impartial information and advice on how they can change their farm business to become more environmentally sustainable whilst maintaining profitability is essential. 98% of the 320 farms who took part in Ready for Change said that they felt more open to making strategic changes to their business, which will ensure they are able to thrive for the future.

McDonald’s has also worked closely with The Royal Countryside Fund to produce two practical guides on the environment and regenerative grazing, A-Zero and The Great Grazing Guide. These guides, which are written in plain English and provide practical tips that farming families can action on their farm, have been accessed by over 75,000 farmers.

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