M&S is rolling out lower carbon parsnips that have been grown autonomously, marking the first project to be funded by its Plan A Accelerator Fund.

Working with long-term, family-owned root vegetable supplier Huntapac, the project involved using the latest farming technology and scientific methods to farm with what the upmarket retailer described as a “significantly lower environmental impact”.

The technology included using two robots for bed forming, planting and weeding, two different types of drone to monitor and maintain crop health, and the latest scientific testing on soil health and carbon impact.

The team looked to minimise disruption to the soil when farming, helping to keep carbon locked away, and used a green fertiliser. M&S said that this, combined with the new tech, which creates lower carbon emissions than a traditional tractor, has demonstrated a carbon reduction of 47% in the growing phase, compared to standard methods.

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AI was used to monitor and improve crop health, with the autonomous technology able to reduce weather impact. Last year, following extremely wet weather, the team were able to plant the field with the autonomous robot which M&S claims wouldn’t have been possible with a traditional tractor.

The expectation is that the trial field will yield 72% of picked parsnips at rated grade one, which the supermarket described as a “strong” result versus other fields.

The parsnips, which were grown in Yorkshire, will now be available in selected M&S stores for around a week.

M&S Food technical director Andrew Clappen said: “The Plan A Accelerator Fund was designed to move us towards being a Net Zero business across our entire supply chain by 2040, by tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of our suppliers.

“Partnership is going to be the key to achieving this goal and at M&S our unique model of own brand, long term supplier relationships is how we deliver the quality and trust our customers expect from us.

“The trial has been really well received by the industry, with knowledge sharing sessions held to demonstrate the new technologies as, if widely adopted, this would create more highly skilled jobs and attract new talent into the sector, which in turn would drive more innovation around finding new lower impact farming methods to reduce carbon emissions.”