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Features

Complete lightweight: Slimmer wine bottles have saved 440k tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions since 2024

2.5bn wine bottles have been slimmed by over 100g in weight – you may not even have noticed, but as David Burrows finds, the move has been an unprecedented success

Business Eating and drinking Net zero Packaging
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Features

Still in the bag? Supermarkets stall on UK Plastics Pact target to reduce packaging for fresh produce by 2030

A target of just 30% of supermarket fresh produce to be sold loose may not seem overly ambitious, but David Burrows is surprised to learn that only one UK retailer has hit the mark

Supermarkets UK Gov Environment and ethics Packaging Plastic
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Features

Worming our way to better soil with vermiculture

The role of the humble earthworm is often overlooked – to our increasing detriment, writes Nick Easen

Biodiversity Environment and ethics Pesticides Regenerative farming Soil
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News

Are Wildfarmed KitKats the future of regen farming… or its breaking point?

1.5 billion KitKats are made every year in the UK. A new partnership with British brand, Wildfarmed, changes the landscape, but to what end, asks David Burrows?

Regenerative farming UPF
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Features

Is hospital food the key to unlocking better outcomes for patients, planet, and producers?

The NHS serves 195 million patient meals every year, which presents an enormous challenge – and opportunity – for those pushing for positive change

Health Sustainability UK Gov
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News

How Big Ag tied “regen” to synthetic chemical inputs and shaped European farming policy

The same multi-billion-dollar companies producing synthetic agrochemicals are also lobbying for "regen agriculture". David Burrows smells a rat.

Farming Pesticides Politics
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News

Mackerel is no longer sustainable. So, what fish can we eat?

As Waitrose removes all fresh, chilled and frozen mackerel from its shelves, Lizzie Rivera asks whether fish can ever be a sustainable choice?

Environment and ethics Fish
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Poison for profit – EU exports 122,000 tonnes of banned pesticides

44 Highly Hazardous Pesticides, banned for EU use, are still being shipped to the African continent

Environment and ethics Pesticides
The AGtivist

The AGtivist: Rise in demand for cheap chicken & eggs driving ammonia emissions & human health concerns

Intensive farming Animal welfare Environment and ethics Health
WL Meets

WL Meets: Jack Feeny, the chef on a mission to reduce waste, plastic, and food miles

Agroecology Eating and drinking Ethical business Local sourcing
Opinion

News from the farm: Business, belief & back to beans

Business Farming Guy Singh-Watson News from the farm
STORY OF THE WEEK

The benefits extend to children, British farmers and farmed animals, as well as the environment. It was a no-brainer but still took a decade of lobbying to get the revision over the line. Rob Percival, Head of Food Policy at the Soil Association

News

“Once-in-a-generation changes” to UK school food rules signal hope for child health, farmers & environment

UK Gov Education Health
Features

Complete lightweight: Slimmer wine bottles have saved 440k tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions since 2024

Business Eating and drinking Net zero Packaging
Features

Still in the bag? Supermarkets stall on UK Plastics Pact target to reduce packaging for fresh produce by 2030

Supermarkets UK Gov Environment and ethics Packaging Plastic
Features

Sustainable Living with Zac – How to save energy

Sustainable Living with Zac Sustainability Energy
Opinion

News from the farm: Nothing mellow in autumn’s fruitfulness

Climate change Farming Guy Singh-Watson
News

46% of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every year, according to latest research

Pesticides Environment and ethics Health
Features

Sardines are having a moment but could this humble fish turn the tide for the UK’s local fisheries?

Pesticides Environment and ethics Health
The AGtivist

Animal Rising activist to spend 21 days in farrowing crate to highlight plight of intensively farmed pigs

Activism Animal welfare Meat
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There is a lot of talk about what a transition tow There is a lot of talk about what a transition towards a just and resilient food system should look like, but all too few people in the UK walking their talk. Jack Feeny, however, is one of them. This unusual chef and grower is trying to redefine what is on tomorrow’s menu, today. Reimagining what we grow, cook and serve up, as well as the ingredients we use to do it.

This involves using more perennials, diverse grains and pulses, deploying wild meats and invasive species, and encompassing the true constraints of British seasonality. Then there is the reduction of single use plastic, slashing food waste, and using local produce. Jack has them all in the crosshairs in his mission to shift the dial on sustainability.

The penny dropped for Jack when he worked in kitchens as a professional chef for eight years in London with stints at the Conduit in Covent Garden and the now-closed Pidgin in Hackney. He also worked at Riverford Field Kitchen.

It was the amount of food waste and the excessive use of plastic in restaurants in general – particularly single use items – that spurred him on to act. He soon realised how easy it was to make changes. 

When Jack was on furlough during the global pandemic and the restaurant trade shut up shop, he spent time creating an online manual of practical ideas to help chefs eliminate certain plastic products and minimise waste. It was based on his own learnings and surveying others who worked in kitchens around the world. 
‘No Mise En Plastic’ was then born on the Internet and social media. It is a play on words. ‘Mise en place’ is the French phrase for ‘everything in its place.’ The term is used in professional kitchens for the practice of prepping, organising, and setting up ingredients and tools before service kicks off.

Read the full interview on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio, and find out more about Jack's inspiring work.
The last time you picked up a bottle of wine at th The last time you picked up a bottle of wine at the local store, cave or supermarket, did you notice anything different? Probably not. But there is a fair bet that, while you were holding the same amount of wine (750ml), the amount of glass had shrunk – or rather, been lightweighted.

In the past three years, wine producers and sellers have been working hard to lightweight their bottles, using less glass in the process. The likes of Laithwaites, Vina Concha y Toro, Virgin Wines, Tesco, and Waitrose have collectively reduced the average wine bottle weight from 550g to 430g. Their target, under the Bottle Weight Accord is 420g, by the time you sit down for a drink to welcome in the New Year.

This definitive target and deadline has focused the minds of those involved – and now applies to 2.5 billion bottles of wine, or 9% of the wine drunk globally. Consumer research and experience to date has also helped release the “handbrake” on innovation, according to Peter Stanbury, Director for Research and Standards at the Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR), which runs the accord.

The perception was that heavier bottles meant better quality wine, Stanbury explains in this year’s update to progress against the target. “For some, therefore, reducing bottle weights was seen as something that might damage sales. The reality was rather different,” he adds.

Indeed, what they – and academic studies – have found is an “indifference” to bottle weight. This has resulted in the premium wines lightweighting too. Some traditionally heavy-glass Rhône producers have for example cut their weights from 600g to 380g, and even some Châteauneuf-du-Pape now comes in lighter bottles. This would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

“[…] Clearly all premium wines could do the same,” Stanbury explains. Because bottle weight reductions are being carried out across the sector, it makes it easier for those who might otherwise be reluctant to reduce bottle weight to do so,” he adds.

Read the full story on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.
Healthier, tastier school dinners are on the way a Healthier, tastier school dinners are on the way as UK ministers this week made a promise to offer meals with more vegetables, fruit and fibre to millions of children, writes David Burrows.

The Department for Education published new rules governing the food served in the nation’s schools. This is the first update to England’s School Food Standards in over a decade.

The new standards mean no more deep-fried food, as well as limits to the number of days when cakes, sweet treats and processed meats, like bacon and sausages, are available. Cheese can only be served as a main ingredient up to twice per week.
From next year, all main meals must contain one or more portions of vegetables or salad, and some fruit and vegetables must be available at all mealtimes. Snacks must be fruit, vegetables, savoury crackers and breadsticks only.

“After 25 years of campaigning, today is a brilliant day,” said chef and child health campaigner Jamie Oliver, who first put the poor quality of school dinners in the spotlight 20 years ago.

With one in three children leaving primary school overweight or obese, and tooth decay linked to high-sugar diets remaining the leading cause of hospital admissions among children aged five to nine, the case for change is clear, the government said. “These are once-in-a-generation changes that will transform school food for children across the country,” added Education Secretary, Lucy Powell.

In the new rules, a portion of pulses (which doesn’t include baked beans) will also be served within or alongside all menu options on at least one day a week. There are also changes to the availability of meat. The existing standards required that on three or more days per week the protein source needed to be meat. Under the new school standards, pulses like lentils and beans count towards this, giving schools the choice to serve more sustainable sources of protein. In fact, schools will have the option to move to 100% vegetarian meals under the new rules.

Read the full article on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.
The real workhorses of a thriving soil are worms. The real workhorses of a thriving soil are worms. As they turn over the earth, digesting organic matter, they not only provide water soluble nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms through their worm casts (small mounds, coils, or pellets of soil and organic matter pushed up to the ground surface after passing through an earthworm’s digestive tract), they also influence carbon cycling, water infiltration, greenhouse gas emissions and plant productivity. Yet they are hugely undervalued. 

This comes at a time when modern farming has decimated earthworms. According to the Earthworm Society of Britain, populations have plummeted by up to 41 per cent over the last 25 years. Worms are now rare or absent in two out of five farm fields, according to Rothamsted Research. In the same study, 42 per cent of fields had poor worm biodiversity. 

“Tillage is a primary driver of earthworm population changes,” explains Dr Jackie Stroud, Assistant Professor of Soil Science at the University of Warwick. Another significant cause of the earthworm’s demise is the persistent use of pesticides and inorganic fertilisers, which can accumulate in farm soils. 

“Applying various salts, which is how a lot of these chemicals are applied, decimates worms since they have porous and permeable skins. There are healthier populations of earthworms in many urban gardens, especially where people encourage them as they compost, than there are in many conventional farms in the UK,” states Anna de la Vega, founder of @the_urban_worm a social enterprise focused on worm farming.

Read the full, fascinating feature on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio 🪱🪱🪱

About us

Wicked Leeks is published by Riverford Organic Farmers.

Riverford organic farmers

Riverford grows and sells organic food through its award-winning veg boxes, delivering across the country to a loyal band of customers who share a passion for good food, good farming and good business.

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