Following two successful trials last year, British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced an expansion of its partnership with agri-tech start-up AgriSound to 18 sites across the M&S farms.

Last year M&S launched two in-field sensor trials that helped farmers better support pollinators like bumblebees and increased crop yields, and now the retailer is rolling the technology out to more M&S Select farms such as East Seaton Farm in Arbroath, which supplies Red Diamond strawberries to the high-street retailer.

AgriSound Polly technology allows farmers to track the number of pollinators visiting their farm in real-time and target specific interventions, like differing wildflower densities, for improving numbers and yields and the quality of crops and benefitting the wider environment. Specialist listening devices combine acoustic technology and environmental sensors to remotely monitor the density of key pollinators, including bumblebees and honeybees, as well as the wider insect community. The devices collect and send data via mobile, allowing users to see results via a smartphone or web app.

This roll-out will cover a diverse range of M&S’s-owned Brand fruit, veg, and salad farms, making up 8% of M&S British growers, with monitors covering 120 habitats and over 1000 hectares, the largest number of growers reached through a retailer-funded trial to date. The technology will provide growers access to real-time data and insights to help set their farms up to be more nature friendly.

At East Seaton Farm, the sensors will be located in the Red Diamond strawberry tunnels, to help track which kinds of pollinators are attracted to the strawberry crops. The rollout of this technology will help them determine how many natural predators they now attract through pollen and nectar mixes and evaluate the relative value of these different habitats in attracting pollinators at different times of the year.

Lochy Porter, Owner at East Seaton Farm, said: “Pollinators play a vital role in helping us deliver the best quality produce we can at the farm – so we’re keen to see the impact AgriSound technology has on activity. With so many current environmental challenges, it’s more important than ever to understand pollinators better. We’re delighted to have been selected by M&S as one of the locations for this expansion and excited to see what beneficial outcomes can be achieved by these relatively simple measures. If we can attract more pollinators to our farm, this will be a huge success.”

The collaboration is part of M&S’ Farming with Nature program, launched in 2021 to support the retailer’s Select Farmers to become more resilient to environmental challenges spanning climate change and biodiversity loss.

As part of the program, M&S has partnered with specialist industry partner LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) to strengthen pollinator-friendly farming practices across M&S’s grower base in the UK. M&S British fruit and vegetable growers are adopting higher standards, developed in partnership with LEAF, to boost biodiversity. This means, for example, that growers set aside between 5-10% of habitat for wildlife and monitor numbers of farmland birds and pollinators. Today, M&S Select Farm growers are protecting and enhancing 9,500 hectares of habitats across the UK, with the growers on average setting aside 7% of their farms to wildlife, delivering the biodiversity badly needed across supply chains.

Andrew Clappen, Technical Director at M&S Food, said: “At M&S, our Plan A target is to become a net zero business by 2040. M&S Food makes up the majority of our emissions, with 72% of this coming directly from agriculture. Sustainable farming is not just a nice to have but a necessity for our business.

Improving biodiversity is at the forefront of our plans to help farmers become more resilient to the impact of climate change. Pollinators are the unsung heroes of British farming – helping to improve yields and quality while benefitting the wider environment.

Since we launched Farming with Nature, we’ve been hosting workshops offering advice to our M&S Select Farmers on the best ways to attract more pollinators. Now, by expanding out our partnership with AgriSound, farms like East Seaton will have real-time data and valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not.”

Gill Perkins, Chief Executive of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see a major retailer investing in both supporting and monitoring our essential wild pollinators. Bumblebees and other pollinators ensure that the food we eat is nutritious, healthy and tasty, by working in the fields from dawn until dusk every day – they are pivotal to food production and it’s great to see them receive the recognition they deserve and the support they need to survive.”

Casey Woodward, Founder and CEO of AgriSound, said: “We’re delighted that M&S has decided to roll-out AgriSound technology to more of its Select Farms. The development of our Polly™ devices has taken years of dedicated research and it is really exciting to see our technology continuing to deliver unique insights into pollinator activity. I look forward to working closely with the Select Farmers to help protect local pollinator communities.”