Openfield has partnered with Trinity AgTech to raise their sustainability credentials and bolster their members’ supply chain resilience. As the UK’s biggest grain marketing and arable co-operative - comprising 4,000 farmers - Openfield’s team will use the collaboration to help secure long-term supply chain contracts and build on their strong desire to further improve their service to members.

This will take the form of exploring new opportunities in the marketplace and capitalising on how they can better meet their consumer customers increasing demand for more crop provenance, with proven metrics behind it. James Dallas, chief executive officer at Openfield, explains why they want to be ahead of the curve in choosing Trinity’s Sandy natural capital navigator tool to help build farm resilience. “We want to provide our members with the power to gather evidence of their farming practices that deliver for the environment. It can’t be underestimated how critical it will be to farm business prosperity in the long term. “Farmers need more support in the current climate, so we feel a tool that addresses a broad range of production and environmental impacts is the best choice for our members. “We believe that, eventually, information on a farm’s environmental impact will need to be supplied by the whole supply chain, from farm gate to fork, so we want to get ahead to capitalise on the benefits,” says Mr Dallas. After conducting extensive due diligence into Sandy’s credentials and capabilities, Openfield is confident that Sandy can offer members the flexibility to plot their own sustainability journey, while credibly recording outcomes of farm profitability and environmental impacts.

“We've looked at several products and Sandy is the only tool that covers the whole breadth of natural capital. “Most tools focus solely on carbon, but some projects we’re currently working on look at more than carbon, such as water quality and biodiversity. “Our members will also benefit from Sandy’s ability to provide scenario planning. This improves accuracy in measuring the outcomes of their farm management decisions, both financially and environmentally. “As Sandy is accredited to latest ISO standards, the scientific basis is hugely beneficial to our members and will provide credibility to the whole supply chain,” says Mr Dallas.

Commenting on the collaboration, Trinity AgTech’s managing director of business development, Anna Woodley says: “We’re looking forward to working with Openfield and its members on their sustainability journey. “Openfield is about more than just grain and are well-known for providing their members with innovative supply chain solutions and fantastic benefits, and we know that Sandy, with its world-class scientific evidence and accessible, rigorous analytics will offer real value”.