M&S has started using drones and robot tractors in an autonomous field farming trial to cut carbon emissions in its parsnips.

The chain claims to be the first UK retailer to trial the method in attempts to both improve crop quality and quantity and drive down carbon emissions, with the first autonomously farmed vegetables set to be in store from November.

M&S planted its first set of the parsnips in March in Yorkshire in partnership with its root vegetable supplier, Huntapac, with two robots used for bed forming, weeding and planting.

Meanwhile, two types of drones are used to maintain and monitor crop health.

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The new approach keeps carbon locked into the soil, and uses a green fertiliser and new tech that uses significantly less diesel than a traditional tractor.

As well as the carbon benefits, the new technology also helps improve the quality and quantity of crop yields, the retailer said.

It is the first M&S Food project paid for by its sustainability programme Plan A’s accelerator fund, which it rolled out earlier this year, “to take rapid action towards net zero through a series of innovation projects”.

M&S Food technical director Andrew Clappen said: “Agriculture is one of our biggest contributors to emissions, so it’s important that we find new lower impact farming methods.

“Trialling new ways to support our Plan A road map to net zero is an important step on the journey and this project has helped deliver more parsnips at M&S quality, a carbon reduction, and brings together new technologies which if adopted more widely would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector.”