Smooth and sustainable: Innocent’s green fund for growers

What does the Innocent Farmer Innovation Fund aim to achieve, and why was it set up?

At Innocent, we’re big fans of fruit and veg, although growing it, moving it and getting it into people’s hands make up the biggest chunk of our carbon footprint – around 57 per cent of our total emissions.

That’s why we launched the Farmer Innovation Fund in 2021. It gives our suppliers the backing to test clever, practical ways of growing fruit and veg with less impact on the planet. That might mean using water more carefully, improving soil health, cutting emissions or developing crops that can cope better with disease and a changing climate.

The important part is that ideas are tested on real farms, in real growing conditions. When something works, we can help it go further by supporting farmers, protecting natural resources and keeping great fruit and veg growing for years to come.

In the fifth year of the fund, what projects stand out as key successes and why?

One of the things we’re most proud of is that five of this year’s fund recipients have received support from us before. Farming challenges aren’t fixed overnight, so it’s brilliant to see ideas develop over several years, rather than stopping after a single trial.

Our citrus work in Brazil is a great example. Our project there is testing a more rigorous way to measure greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon stored on farms. It combines farm data, soil samples, remote sensing and carbon modelling to replace broad estimates with credible, farm-level evidence.

If successful, the approach could help growers make better decisions and provide a model that can be used more widely. That combination of long-term partnership, proper science and practical potential is exactly what the fund is there for.

How much has Innocent invested in the fund since it was set up, and how much does each project typically receive in funding?

We launched the fund in 2021 with around £100,000 in grants. Since then, it has grown considerably, with up to £1 million made available each year from 2024 onwards. The amount each product gets depends on what a project needs, how far the idea has developed, and whether it is an early experiment or something ready for a larger trial. That flexibility lets us support both promising first steps and proven ideas with room to grow.

How challenging is it to secure consistency in supply, as required by Innocent as a household brand, under increasingly unpredictable growing conditions?

As a brand, we need to always secure the tastiest fruit and veg to make our drinks. However, rising temperatures, drought, water shortages and crop disease are making harvests much less predictable, which is why helping growers adapt is so important.

For example, in the Philippines, one project supported by the Farmer Innovation Fund is testing mulching on coconut farms to help the soil hold onto more moisture. It’s a relatively simple change that could help coconut trees cope better with drought and particularly strong El Niño years.

What fruits are in Innocent’s core range, and what production challenges do growers face?

Our core range relies on ingredients including oranges, apples, grapes, strawberries, mangoes, coconuts and bananas; however, each crop faces different pressures, so there isn’t a single solution that works for all of them.

Oranges, for example, are threatened by citrus greening, or HLB – a serious disease that damages fruit, reduces yields and puts growers’ livelihoods at risk. We’re supporting work that helps the citrus sector better understand and respond to threats like this.

Most bananas traded internationally are genetically very similar, meaning they often share the same weaknesses. Diseases such as TR4 and Black Sigatoka can therefore spread through plantations and cause major crop losses. We’ve helped fund research into bananas’ natural genetic diversity, giving researchers a bigger toolkit for breeding varieties that can cope better with disease and a changing climate.

What new products or origins is the company exploring?

Our new creamy smoothies show how we’re responding to changing tastes without losing sight of where the ingredients come from. Inspired by classic desserts, the range taps into ‘little treat’ culture, with flavours including Like Strawberry Cupcakes, Blueberry Muffin-ish, and A Bit Like Lemon Pie.

Every ingredient in this new range had to meet our sourcing principles. This helps us assess whether new ingredients and origins can be sourced responsibly in a way that is fair to growers and the planet.

What else is Innocent doing to secure future supply of key lines?

As a business built on fruit and veg, the Farmer Innovation Fund is one of our biggest investments in future-proofing long-term supply. We source fresh produce from all over the world – mangoes from India, oranges from Brazil, and strawberries from Spain – looking for ingredients that are grown in a way that’s fair to the people producing them and kinder to the planet they grow on.

We also use the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment certification to demonstrate that our ingredients are responsibly sourced. In addition, our FITR (First Look, Investigate, Trip and Recommendation) programme helps us work out whether potential new ingredients can be sourced responsibly before they make their way into a bottle.

Does Innocent make any other sustainability investments?

Our Innocent promise is another way we invest in a healthier future. We give 10 per cent of our profits to good causes that help more people access fruit and veg, support farmers and address nutrition challenges globally.