James & Sam On The Road

Working somewhere like Field and Flower is, in my experience, a very unique thing. There aren’t many of us here, but it feels like each one of us has the privilege to really make a change to the food industry. We don’t shy away from the big questions and big debates, because we’re acting on our principles and have an incredible base of customers who share our values, and stay with us to help further them.

As James said so well last week, since earlier this year, we’ve been grappling with one of the biggest questions that we’ve faced in our time as a company, and that is ‘what to do about farmed salmon?’. Once again, we decided to act on our principles, prioritise welfare, and support farming methods and systems that we can get behind. I visited the Oxford Farming Conference, spoke to countless people from places like DEFRA fisheries, people in sustainability, people in aquaculture, and, like James said, the answer lay in the last place we’d expect to find it... on land.

We flew into Reykjavik earlier this month to work out whether these farmers and new aquatic systems matched us on several different fronts – were they working with animal welfare at the forefront of their mind? How were they mitigating their impact on the environment and wildlife? Do they have the ambition to really change their industry, like we do? To our delight, these guys ticked the boxes on all counts.

It’s amazing that you can go somewhere that seems so far away and have the same conversations that we’d have with our farmers in the UK. Iceland is a small place, and everybody knows everybody. Much like in Scotland, the local population don’t want to see foreign investment pouring into their open net salmon farming industry and wreaking havoc in their environment. When I had my passport stamped, I was asked, “What brings you to Iceland?” I said, “I’m here to see your salmon”. She replied, “Well, make sure they don’t get out this time!”. She was referring to a recent escape from nets in the Westfjords. The escape sparked public outrage and stirred huge concerns about the wild fish populations in their rivers, which are now competing for food with the escaped fish and potentially breeding less hardy genetics into their bloodlines. Norwegian divers have been brought in to catch the fish and mitigate damage.

With this in mind, the head of the Institute of Wildlife was only too happy to see one of the first UK companies to switch from open-net systems to contained systems, on land, posing no risk to the environment. Land-based farming systems are in their infancy, but the environmental impact of switching out of open nets is so huge for the country that the government of Iceland is close to throwing its weight behind the project. The guys we’re working with have proven their concept and the wheels are in motion to really ‘kick on’ and disrupt the open net salmon farming industry.

Our farming standards run across sourcing in every protein we sell, and when you find the farmers that manage to reach those standards, you’re in good company, no matter where you are. We are empowered to find the right farms because of the level of understanding from our customers that farming isn’t ‘black and white’; ‘farmed salmon’ isn’t just ‘farmed salmon’. Across our farming base on land, the best method of farming on sandy land will not suit the clay underfoot next door. Different geography and foliage suit different breeds of cattle and lamb. Much in the same way, the systems used to filter through volcanic rock in Iceland are incredible, but they’re not available in Norway, so they innovate their own filtration systems. What matters most is that with all our farming systems, the experience and welfare of the animal is kept at the forefront of the conversation. These salmon live without the threat of lice, pesticides and predators. They are outside of the viciously strong currents that could overpower them when they are young, or exhaust them in their maturity. They live a peaceful life, which you could argue is something that this system is allowing the salmon for the first time.

We’re ready to tackle issues like this and find the absolute best solution for our customers, in line with the principles that we all subscribe to. Getting on a plane to see a supplier felt odd, but it was reassuring to know we are supporting an innovative, ethical and sustainable way of farming as we landed.