Simpsons Malt Limited has been recognised for its commitment to supply chain sustainability by winning the 2024 Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) Growing A Better Planet Award.
The FSA is a globally recognised and trusted industry solution for facilitating supply chain collaboration. To celebrate the farmers and organisations demonstrating leadership and innovation in their efforts to continuously improve on-farm sustainability, the FSA launched its Growing A Better Planet Award.
Simpsons Malt Limited has had a Farm Management Group verified to the FSA since 2020 featuring 419 directly contracted growers, with a further Farm Management Group featuring 340 directly contracted growers verified in 2022 following the company’s acquisition of W. N. Lindsay Ltd. The FSA Gold levels in each of these groups are 91% and 92% respectively.
When reviewing this year’s shortlist, judges commended the company – which is also a Certified B Corporation – for how pivotal the FSA is to its sustainable sourcing requirements and how it uses the solution to deliver supply chain engagement, with the overall aim of achieving carbon neutral malting barley and distilling wheat production by 2030.
Simpsons Malt Limited is aided in directly influencing sustainability practices on-farm by having agricultural merchanting division, McCreath Simpson & Prentice (MSP), integrated into the business. MSP supplies farm inputs to growers across Scotland and northern England and this has enabled strategic partnerships to be formed with major agricultural businesses, including Yara UK and OCI Nitrogen on the supply and trial of low-carbon fertilisers for harvest 2024 and BASF Agricultural Solutions on a unique carbon reduction and removals certification programme.
Ben Gothorp, Sustainability Manager at Simpsons Malt Limited, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the FSA Growing A Better Planet Award, highlighting our commitment to driving sustainability throughout the malting barley and distilling wheat supply chains which, in turn, helps us – and also our distilling partners – tackle our Scope 3 emissions.
“As both a malting and agricultural merchanting business, the FSA has been an important platform in helping us to engage directly with our malting barley and distilling wheat suppliers and we now have more than 750 growers verified to the FSA in two separate Farm Management Groups – both of which are more than 90% Gold level.
“One of our overarching company objectives is to achieve carbon neutral malting barley and distilling wheat production by 2030, and we’re pleased that this global award recognises the positive steps we are making towards this.”
Joe Rushton, FSA Director at SAI Platform, added: “Simpsons Malt Limited’s dedication to sustainable practices and collaboration with farmers sets an excellent example in advancing agricultural resilience, and we’re delighted to recognise their achievements with this award.”
