Driving Sustainability in the Horse Feed Industry
Dengie’s Commitment to Environmental Responsibility
Written by Katie Reeve and Tracey Hammond
Sustainability has definitely become an increasing consideration in people’s minds in recent years and the horse feed industry is certainly no exception. As the need for action becomes ever more urgent in light of yet more extreme weather events affecting the UK, the whole situation can feel overwhelming. This is why it was really valuable for us to get together as a team recently and reflect on what we have achieved and understand more about how our everyday actions align with Dengie’s Environmental Management Plan Policy. Some of our particularly notable achievements include:
- Introducing the maximum amount of recycled plastic into our packaging for all our feeds – this is currently 50% and increasing to 70% from 2025
- Sending any unavoidable waste packaging back to our supplier for reuse or recycling
- Reducing electricity use and ensuring all lights and equipment are switched off when not in use
- Switching to Green Energy which is 100% renewable energy with zero carbon dioxide emissions
- Introducing hybrid and fully electric cars into our small fleet of company cars and installing charging stations at our head office
- Installing solar panels on office buildings
- In 2022 we invested in new machinery which turns and aerates the alfalfa crop in the field helping to reduce its moisture content before it is collected and precision dried at our production site – this means we can save energy and electricity as less drying time is required!
- In 2023-24 we reduced the amount of feed waste disposed of by around 25%
Sustainability was also a prominent topic at the BETA Feed Conference over the summer, with speakers covering topics such as the environmental impact of ingredient sourcing, feed production and distribution, as well as the impact of regulatory requirements facing the horse feed industry. One key topic of conversation was the advantages of co-products like beet pulp and straw, which not only have nutritional benefits for the horse but also have a very low carbon footprint, as the sugar beet and cereals are being grown and harvested to go into the human food industry anyway! We use and recommend these ingredients to customers regularly and making reference to their low carbon footprint when we recommend them is one way that we can increase awareness of the importance of sustainability when feeding our horses.
Vicky Robinson, Head of Sustainability at the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), the trade association for the Agri-supply industry which includes animal feed, also discussed their upcoming sustainability roadmap at the BETA conference. This has now recently been published https://www.agindustries.org.uk/sustainability.html and covers a wide range of topics including how to report on sustainability effectively.
Dengie are members of the AIC’s UFAS and FEMAS Feed Assurance Schemes and over the coming months our Accreditation Manager will be working to identify any gaps in priorities and actions based on this new action plan. When most people think about sustainability, they think about environmental impact, but sustainability also includes a sustainable workforce and people impact. The AIC Action Plan calls this ‘sustainable communities’ and one of the suggested member actions is to offer mental health support and training. This is something that Dengie already do as they have several Mental Health First Aiders amongst different teams within the business who have received appropriate training to support their colleagues. This was initially in recognition of the challenges that many farmers face when working alone for long hours. As our growers all have their own farms, Dengie wanted to offer a support network for them as well as employees.
All of this hard work has been recognised independently too. In August this year we were delighted to achieve the highest accreditation of “Green status” for Investors in the Environment, which is a national environmental accreditation scheme. We’ve also held a Royal Warrant now for a number of years, and something that a lot of people perhaps don’t realise is that there are very strict sustainability and environmental requirements that companies have to fulfil in order to be eligible.
We are also really proud to support a number of charities and organisations who are working to help conserve and protect the countryside, including the Essex Wildlife Trust and the Green Tractor Scheme which promotes farm plastic recycling. Plastic use on farms and for Dengie feeds is unavoidable for many reasons. We continue to work to reduce the amount of plastic we use, and we also encourage people to re-use before recycling too.
Here are our top tips for re-purposing our bags:
- As colourful show jump fillers or arena banners to help prepare your horse for the unexpected at your next competition
- As a strong rubbish bag for the yard, or for bagging up manure for compost
- For carrying large quantities of hay down to your horse’s field over the winter months when grazing is reduced
- For storing your rugs in to keep away the spiders, or when packaging up to be washed
- For storing or carrying logs for the fire
- For kneeling on when gardening – stuff them with some straw for extra comfort
- For sack races at Pony Club camp
- As a make-shift sledge in the snow
Let us know if you have any other suggestions for re-purposing your Dengie feed sacks!
