Eating Better

Nestled in the rolling hills of one of Scotland’s key farming counties, The Lint Mill is more than just a place for nature-friendly food production: it embodies its owners’ deep commitment to sustainable living in harmony with the planet.

On the edge of Exmoor, NFFN England steering group member Holly Purdey is guiding a National Trust farm through a nature-friendly transformation, striving to remain financially viable while managing the land for livestock and biodiversity.

The market for “better” meat and dairy needs to be built. To do that, we need clarity about what “better” actually looks like, and importantly, how to get there. That’s where Sourcing Better 2.0 comes in.

While campaigning against large pig and poultry units has focused largely on the negative impacts on waterways, such as the River Wye, the environmental, animal welfare and justice issues reach far beyond our waters.

Tropical forests are crucial to life on Earth, helping to provide the conditions for life to thrive on our planet. These biodiverse ecosystems provide us with a range of benefits, or ecosystem services, that range from sequestering carbon and climate regulation to air and water purification, from disease prevention to the provision of shelter, food and medicine. Not to mention the benefits we receive in terms of culture, awe and inspiration.

2025 marks a critical year for forests, with global leaders preparing for COP30, the major climate summit set to take place in Belém, Brazil—deep in the heart of the Amazon. At the same time, businesses are in a final sprint to meet their commitments to eliminate deforestation and habitat conversion from their supply chains by the year’s end.

Our report ‘Sourcing Better Checked Out’ found a lack of effective sourcing policies to support local soil health on farms. We found no publicly available reporting on specific soil health indicators, or policies to limit insecticidal veterinary medication use that is harmful to soil health.

Our recent report ‘Sourcing Better Checked Out’ found a lack of effective sourcing policies to support local biodiversity in farmed landscapes. While many retailers had topline statements of ambition, there is almost no reporting on biodiversity actions or indicators throughout their meat and dairy supply chains.

A new report reviews retailers’ published commitments against Eating Better’s Sourcing Better framework.

A new campaign from the Soil Association exposes the use of highly hazardous pesticides in supermarket soy supply chains for chicken feed.

Waitrose’s farming commitments demonstrate its leadership in farm animal welfare and deliver “better.” It holds 14 Retailer Awards from Compassion in World Farming, including five Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards. Waitrose is ranked as tier one leaders by Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare.

Initially developed with Tesco, WWF is now working with five UK supermarkets to halve the environmental impact of UK baskets by 2030, using the WWF Basket metric to track progress.   

Eating Better launches an ambitious plan to help retailers and restaurants source climate and nature friendly meat.

Chicken is the most popular meat in the UK and its consumption is growing. Our new report shows the true costs of production on this scale.