LIDL UK BACKS BRITISH FARMING

Supermarket cements its strong commitment to the British Farming industry through NFU’s ‘Back British Farming Charter’

21 March 2017: Lidl UK, Britain’s fastest-growing supermarket, has signed the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) ‘Back British Farming Charter’.

The Back British Farming Charter calls on the food industry to show support for British farming by strengthening its British product offerings and working in close partnership with British farmers to develop committed, fair, beneficial and transparent relationships.

With 70% of its core range sourced from British suppliers, and having worked closely with many of its suppliers for more than 15 years, the supermarket has long been passionate about supporting and maintaining strong relationships with its producers. Its unique business model, which operates a lean buying team with a simple, flat reporting structure, offers suppliers more streamlined channels of communication and enables the supermarket to develop long-term partnerships that contribute to sustainable British farming industry.

In addition to stocking British sourced products in its UK stores, Lidl also exports over £300m worth of British produce a year to 27 other countries, giving the rest of the world the opportunity to taste the best that Britain has to offer.

Christian Härtnagel, Lidl UK CEO, commented: “Our goal for the future is to continue to put best practice in sustainability firmly at the heart of the business, and supporting growth in the British farming sector is another crucial step in fulfilling that ambition.

“To ensure that we can always offer our customers the freshest, highest quality products at the best prices, it is imperative that we continue to support the British farming industry and further cultivate the strong relationships that we have with our suppliers.”

The announcement follows Lidl UK’s backing of the NFU’s Fruit and Vegetable Pledge in 2016, further demonstrating its commitment to ensuring that its sourcing process supports the growth and development of UK production

ENDS