June 2025: Shared risk, shared rewards

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Our June Farmer-Led Working Group surfaced something critical: the gap between corporate sustainability ambitions and farm-level economics is widening, not closing.

Farmers told us they're shouldering huge financial risk without long-term contracts or pricing stability, being asked for carbon data rather than support to build resilient systems, and facing contradictory ESG demands that shift with the trends.

But they're not just naming problems. They're asking for specific solutions: shared risk and reward models like First Milk and Yeo Valley, clear direction of travel with flexibility on delivery, and aligned KPIs that unite sustainability and commercial teams.

As Lucy Noad put it: "We need consistent messaging that lasts five to ten years. It's a generational game." If we don't address risk, trust, and misaligned incentives now, we'll lose the very farmers driving innovation at a time when the food system depends on them most.