Farm Forward Program - Planet Positive

Farm Forward

We’ve been working with farmers for over 20 years. In 2012, we created Farm Forward after consulting farmers.

<h2>Farm Forward</h2>

Our Farm Forward programme

Farm Forward is our agriculture programme with three big aims: supporting resilient farmers, raising animal welfare standards and making environmental improvements.

Since 2012 we’ve partnered with local suppliers and experts to make scalable environmental improvements in our supply chain. In recent years, we have evolved our Farm Forward programme to invest in the farming industry through research, education and training. Our continued commitment to the programme will help us deliver our goal of supporting resilient livelihoods and sustainable outcomes for over 23,000 Irish and British Farmers.

As part of the programme McDonald’s works in partnership with its suppliers across four key areas:

We inspire, to encourage new and diverse talent in the industry, providing access to career opportunities in food and farming
We innovate, investing in the latest research and technology to support farm sustainability and animal welfare.
We illustrate, working with farmers and suppliers to share best practice and implement innovations within our supply chain
And we influence, using our scale to encourage industry progress and to support the future resilience of the Irish and British farming industry.

We work closely with farmers across our supply chain to make sure Farm Forward is always relevant and useful to them.

Regenerative agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming and food production that focusses on renewal and restoration of the natural resources it interacts with to rebuild soils, improve water retention and utilisation, and promote biodiversity.

Our focus is on developing regenerative agriculture initiatives in each of our priority supply chains to promote activity in each of these three areas. This includes beef, potatoes and dairy, working in partnership with our suppliers through innovative pilots.

Progressive Young Farmers standing in a field

Encouraging new and diverse talent

As one of the biggest supporters of Irish and British and agriculture, we want to inspire the next generation of farming talent. We want to help young people understand the variety of roles the food or farming industry can offer and showcase the real benefits of a career in this space.

Find out more about how we champion careers in the food and farming industry.

The people behind our Plan

"During my placement, I’ve been learning all about the hard work, know-how and eye for detail that is needed to produce the quality beef that goes into McDonald’s beef burgers. It’s certainly a change of pace from my studies in Economics and Politics but I’ve loved every minute!"

David, 2020 Progressive Young Farmer Graduate

Origin Green certification

In 2016, McDonald’s Ireland became the first foodservice company to achieve Origin Green certification. It’s the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme. To achieve certification, our sustainability timelines and targets had to be verified to an independent standard. These included our commitments to sustainable sourcing and environmentally friendly operations.

European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability (ERBS)

We are founding members of ERBS, which is shaping the future of beef sustainability in Europe. The four themes of work for the ERBS, which are supported by eight goals, are to: improve the environmental footprint of farming systems, to preserve the effectiveness of animal medicines in beef farming through responsible use of antibiotics, to improve animal health and welfare, and to improve the resilience of farm businesses.

Find Out More