Semper and Lantmännen in new partnership for more sustainable agriculture
Semper joins Climate & Nature – Lantmännen’s program for Farming of the Future. Together the companies will create a more sustainable cultivation of oats, wheat and rye in Sweden.
Semper is joining Climate & Nature this harvest year 2023. The program contains a number of measures and cultivation methods at farm level that reduce climate impact and boost biodiversity. The use of fossil-free mineral fertilisers is a new criterion this year and means that the climate impact from cultivation can be reduced by up to 50 per cent for this year’s harvest*.
“Our mission is to conserve the goodness of nature, and therefore we don’t take shortcuts. We prepare food for the future’s connoisseurs, our children. After our long collaboration with Lantmännen, we have now chosen to join Climate & Nature in order to jointly reduce our climate impact and contribute to more sustainable agriculture,” says Jim Frandsen, CEO of Semper AB.
The cultivation methods within Climate & Nature include the use of fossil-free mineral fertiliser, fossil-free fuels and precision cultivation. In addition, biodiversity is boosted by chemical-free seed treatment, flowering zones and skylark plots in the field (unsown plots in the fields where skylarks can land to find food).
“We are very happy that Semper is joining the program. Climate and Nature is our tool for driving the transition to a climate-neutral food chain. Partnerships like the one we have with Semper are crucial for us and our customers to be able to offer sustainable products and achieve our climate and sustainability goals,” says Karolina Valdemarsson, Country Managing Director at Lantmännen Cerealia Sweden.
Through contract cultivation, Lantmännen guarantees a market for the grains and the farmer receives a premium for the measures carried out on their own farm. The more companies that join Climate & Nature, the more farmers can transition to more sustainable cultivation methods.
FACT BOX: CLIMATE & NATURE
• Climate & Nature is Lantmännen’s cultivation program for farming of the future. It includes specific measures, such as fossil-free fuels, fossil-free mineral fertilisers and flowering zones, to reduce climate impact from cultivation and boost biodiversity.
*The program is dynamic and since the launch in 2015, Lantmännen has reduced the total climate impact from cultivation by developing and adding sustainability criteria. For the 2023 harvest, the reduction will amount to around 50 per cent compared with the base year of 2015. The remaining climate impact consists of biogenic emissions, primarily nitrous oxide emissions from the farmland.
• For the 2023 harvest, Lantmännen will have replaced over 90 per cent of fossil fuels used throughout the value chain with renewable energy (since the start of the program in 2015).
FACT BOX: BABY FOOD FROM SEMPER
• Semper produces all baby food without additives or preservatives. The ingredients are always carefully selected. The ingredients are of so-called baby food quality, which means that they comply with baby food legislation and the strict requirements for food for children under 3 years of age.
• The partnership in the program for Climate & Nature includes the assortment of porridge and gruel.
For more information, please contact:
Anne Lindfeldt, Corporate Communications Manager Semper Nordic
Tel: +46 (0)70 276 10 35.
Email: anne.lindfeldt@semper.se
Lantmännen’s press service
Tel: +46 (0)10,556 88 00
Email: press@lantmannen.com
About Semper
The well-known Semper brand guarantees the same high quality as it has done since its inception in 1939. Today’s Semper has a leading position on the Nordic market within baby food, gluten-free products and infant milk formula. The head office is situated in Sundbyberg and the production facilities are in Götene and Falun, all in Sweden. Semper has around 300 employees in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark and sales of approximately SEK 1.5 billion. The company is part of the international food group Hero Group, which has just over 4,000 employees in 19 countries. Read more at www.semper.se
About Lantmännen
Lantmännen is an agricultural cooperative and Northern Europe’s leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food products. Owned by 18,000 Swedish farmers, we have 10,000 employees, operations in over 20 countries and an annual turnover of SEK 60 billion. With grain at the heart of our operations, we refine arable land resources to make farming thrive. Some of our best-known food brands are AXA, Bonjour, Kungsörnen, GoGreen, Gooh, FINN CRISP, Schulstad and Vaasan. Our company is founded on the knowledge and values acquired through generations of farmers. With research, development and operations throughout the value chain, together we take responsibility from field to fork. For more information: www.lantmannen.com
