Morrisons has hailed “the future of egg farming” as it announced plans to become the first supermarket to sell own-brand carbon neutral eggs.
In a bid to achieve this by 2022, the grocer will reduce soya feed across 10 egg farms and replace it with insect feed.
Soya is often grown on deforested land, so the move is expected to save 56 hectares of South American forest and 5700 tonnes of CO2 each year.
Morrisons will set up insect “mini farms” on egg farms to provide hens with “nutrient rich and natural food”.
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The insects, which will be fed on recycled fruit and vegetables, can grow to 5000 times their initial body mass in under a fortnight.
“Reducing soya from livestock feed is one of the key challenges for farms needing to lower their carbon footprint,” Morrisons head of agriculture Sophie Throup said.
“An insect diet could suit our hens better – they seem to enjoy it – and the nutritional and added health benefits are notable.
“We think that this could be part of the future of egg farming.”
The Big 4 grocer, which calls itself “British farming’s biggest single customer”, will only stock food from net zero British farms by 2030.
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