Tesco has become the first retail member of the Centre of Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), a newly created £70 million research hub opened earlier this year to bring together the food industry and academic researchers to transform the productivity of the UK livestock industry.
As the first retail member to champion CIEL, Tesco is demonstrating its commitment to supporting British farmers by providing funding for this new ground-breaking initiative with the aim of increasing productivity and growth within British farming
Claire Lorains, Tesco category director, meat, fish, poultry & eggs comments: “In order to make British agriculture more competitive we need a culture of continuous improvement across the whole supply chain. The CIEL is a fantastic platform to propel innovation in the UK livestock industry, which is key to the success of providing the best possible quality and sustainable food for customers.”
Nick Major, corporate affairs director of ForFarmers and CIEL interim board chairman adds: “It is an enormous honour to have such a well-known and respected company as Tesco as one of our members and as the first retailer to recognise the value of CIEL’s work. Our aim is to increase the economic performance of UK farming to benefit, farmers, retailers and consumers alike. Support from companies such as Tesco will help keep the UK at the forefront of sustainable food production.”
Opened in February this year, CIEL has been industry led from inception, while private sector companies across the livestock and food industries have also been key to its development. Other founder members include Agrisearch, BSAS, BSAS Industry Association, Cranswick Country Food plc, Devenish Nutrition Ltd, Dunbia Ltd, ForFarmers UK Ltd, Origin Group Holdco Ltd, RAFT Solutions Ltd and XLVets UK Ltd.
