PepsiCo is paying oilseed rape growers up to £110/ha to reduce the environmental impact of growing the crop, in a tiered system that rewards the stacking of sustainable practices.

The company is seeking to reduce the emissions associated with producing rapeseed oil, which it uses for frying its Walkers crisps, while also making the production of oilseed rape in the UK more resilient.

Available through Frontier Agriculture, one-year contracts for delivering the practices identified by the PepsiCo partnership programme are on offer until July 2024, with growers receiving the additional payment once the actions have been verified.

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In practical terms, that means March 2025, following the harvest of the crop.

Growers who participate sign a natural capital contract committing to the implementation of certain practices, and the outcomes generated by these will be signed over to Frontier.

As a result, they cannot be used in any other natural capital markets, including carbon trading platforms. Any fields that have already been entered into other natural capital voluntary markets are not eligible.

In addition, all the rapeseed produced in fields within the programme must be traded through Frontier.

Three levels of funding are available to farmers – gold (£110/ha), silver (£80/ha) and bronze (£55/ha) – depending on the adoption of various practices based on tillage and nutrition (see table).

Establishment method

For tillage, the oilseed rape crop can be established by either reduced or no-tillage, with the use of cover/catch crops in two or five years also being rewarded.

The nutrition practice options include the use of companion crops, variable-rate fertilisers and incorporating biofertilisers, including Nutrino Pro.

Adopting more practices leads to higher payments, as each one goes towards either the bronze, silver or gold tier.

To measure outcomes, the programme requires agronomic information and data will be collected on an in-house spreadsheet.

The evidence required is more detailed than that currently held by Frontier systems and will be used to support the programme and create a footprint per tonne of rapeseed.

Biodiversity will also be assessed, using the Cool Farm Tool, while the use of satellite imaging technology based on supplied field boundaries will show any impacts on the soil carbon on the farm.

Frontier Agriculture is actively enrolling farms until July 2024.