Our journey towards
sustainability1Foreword

I worked on Norfolk farms as a boy, and though
it is not exacly in my blood, it has become somethingof a passion over time.
Today, I own 36,000 acres of high yielding, goodquality farmland in England across Lincolnshire,
Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset.
Having bought the land, I am fortunate to havebeen able to invest £130m into Dyson Farming
to improve the soil, lay hedgerows, build dry stone
walls, and plant trees to name a few.
We approach farming with the same spirit ofentrepreneurialism, problem-solving, and sustainability
that underpins our global technology business.
Data analytics, new crop rotations, new cover cropping
techniques, advanced drones and vision systems,
targeted crop spraying and agritech, and renewableenergy production are some of the ways we incorporate
technology into our farming systems.
Dyson engineers, as well as Dyson Instituteundergraduates, are working increasingly closelywith the farming business on exciting new ventures.
From innovative weed killing to vertical farming,our ‘wrong thinking’ approach to problem-solving
is being applied in new areas and new products.

We grow strawberries inour glasshouse using heatfrom our anaerobic digester.
But growing in the darkest
months of the year requires extra
help. We’ve successfully trialled
the use of LED light and soon,
will be growing our first wintercrop. This will mean we haveplants fruiting in the glasshousealmost all year round.
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Dyson Farming

4Carbon sinks
Dyson Farming benefits from a numberof carbon sinks that sequester carbon.
We have over 400km of hedgerows,of which we planted 20km, and 550haof managed woodland. We also grow crops
to enable renewable energy generation
through our anaerobic digesters and use
cover cropping across our fields, whichmeans we grow secondary crops between
seasons to ensure the ground is covered
to prevent nutrient depletion.

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Farming
sustainably
using a circularfarm system

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We operate a ‘circular farm system’.
This means we look to use all of ourresources efficiently to benefit the farm,
producing wholesome food while also
protecting and enhancing the environment.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the process
by which renewable energy is createdfrom biodegradable matter.
Raw, organic matter is fed into thedigester. Once in the digestion chamberor ‘stomach’ the material is broken
down by micro-organisms. The matteris converted into biogas which powers
an engine, generating electricity.
Our anaerobic digesters produce
enough electricity every year to power
the equivalent of 10,000 homes.

We will capture our biogas anduse the fuel to power our fleet of lorries
and other vehicles, further reducing
our carbon footprint.
Excess hot air from the process ofanaerobic digestion is used to heat ourglasshouse – to produce strawberries
out of season, and large grain stores –to control moisture levels and therefore
maintain food quality and prevent waste.
Excess CO², generated by our anaerobic
digesters, will also be captured and fed
into the six-hectare glasshouse whichsits adjacent to the powerplant. CO² isa key component needed to grow healthy
strawberry plants capable of producing
high-quality fruit.

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5a4b4a5b1

6325c

1 Energy crops
2 Clamps
3 Anaerobic digester
4a Gas powered generator
4b Digestate
5a Electricity for 10,000 homes
5b Heat for grain store
5c Heat and electricity for glasshouse
6 Rainwater lagoon
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The UK’s
food security
problem
The UK imports around 46% of the total
food it consumes each year*. Food security
is an increasingly critical factor in foodproduction, reliance on imports can bebad for the environment, with the air miles
associated, with it but is also disrupted
by geo-political events.
The importance of food security is a key
reason why James Dyson invested in thefuture of British agriculture, and he has
called for the UK to become a net exporterof food within a decade. Technology
allows us to be improve harvests.
Our strawberries are grown in a glasshouseadjacent to our anaerobic digester, fromwhich we capture the heat to help the plants
grow in the colder months. These harvestin Spring, Autumn and Winter and offer
consumers a new option when usually
all that is on the shelves are strawberries
from Spain and North Africa.
In 2022 a team of Dyson engineersdeveloped and implemented a new
approach to irrigating the six-hectare
glasshouse with CO². This is the first ofmany projects that will see the technology
and farming businesses work together
in research and development.

About 54% of the food on ourplates is produced in the UK*,
including the majority of grains,meat, dairy, and eggs. Selfsufficiency is about 54% in fresh
vegetables, and 16% in fruit.

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Percentages of key foods the UKconsumes which are homegrown
Fruit

16%

Vegetables

Sugar beet

Potatoes

54%

67%

71%

Oil seeds

79%

Wheat

81%

Eggs

Milk92%

105%

13We grow high quality
British strawberries
out of season
We’re running trials of robots in the glasshouse which
use vision technology to select the best strawberries
and place them into punnets. We also use robots to killmould using UV light and distribute insects to eat aphids.
We also have LEDs to enhance daylight over the winterand irrigate the plants through Dyson-designed systems.
The work reflects the fact that Dyson is supercharging its
robotics ambitions more broadly, recruiting 700 robotics
engineers across disciplines including computer vision,machine learning, sensors and mechatronics over fiveyears. The plan: to bring the technology into our homes,
and perhaps our fields, by the end of the decade.

Farm to fork
The site also has a packhouse and cold store facilities
allowing Dyson Farming topick, chill, pack and deliver
fresh fruit to the end customer
as quickly as possible.

Consistent quality
Precision picked only
when perfectly ripe.

Extending the British
growing season
The anaerobic digesters
produce gas which drives
turbines to produce electricity.
From this process, heatis captured and used towarm the glasshouse.

Reduced food miles
The 15-acre glasshouse in Carrington,
supports the advancement of hightech, sustainable farming in the UK,
reducing food miles that come fromimported strawberries outside theusual growing season.

Pest control
UV light robots control
fungal disease andbiological colonies
restrict pest infestation.

15% more growth
The hanging gutters, whichhold the plants, ‘swing’ fromside to side to allow 15% extra
crop to be grown in the same
area. The glasshouse has
832 rows of strawberries,
which produce 750 tonnesof strawberries each year.

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Natural resources

Improved taste
Climate and CO² levels
are accurately controlled
for the best growing
conditions.

Sweet taste
We grow our out-of-season
strawberries to a high standard,achieving brix (sweetness) levelsof +9%. This is usually typical tojust British summer strawberries.

Rainwater is harvested fromthe glasshouse roof, stored
in a lagoon and used toirrigate the plants as andwhen needed.

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Improving ourwater resources
We monitor water quality across our land
to understand the impact of agriculturalactivities on surrounding land.
Lincolnshire is famously flat, withnutrient rich soil, which is why it’s deemed
Grade 1 farmland. One of the first andmost important jobs we undertook
when we acquired the Lincolnshire farms,
was to overhaul the water-logged land.
Drainage ditches which were cloggedwith years of debris were cleared, andthe dykes they flow to were restored.
We continue to manage the drainage
across our land and are part of a wider
co-operative of landowners where
we each ensure our farmland remains
clear and drains free flowing.

The land is also criss-crossed bywatercourses many of which had beenstraightened historically to make fields
efficient to plough. However, we’ve
identified a number of watercoursesthat would benefit wildlife from being
restored to a natural state such as theDunston Beck which has created a better
habitat for a growing trout population.
Our land in North Lincolnshire also
includes a significant wetland site,covering 100ha. This is a key habitat
for breeding waders and so we manage
the land to encourage the population
to flourish through strategic cattle andsheep grazing throughout the season.

Bef�reAfter

Watercourse
re-meanderedto improve waterquality andreintroduce trout

Watercoursestraightened
to make fields
easier to plough

Our collaboration with the Wild
Trout Trust and the Environment
Agency to re-meander Dunston
Beck to improve water quality
and reintroduce trout. The landaround the restored sectionof the beck is grazed by sheep.
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Restoredland used for
grazing sheep

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The importanceof healthy soil

Controlling soil
moisture helps thecrop to develop a deep
healthy root system.

Deeper roots allow
for greener healthier
plants that produce
higher yields.

The care put into how our food is grown
and reared is paramount. Everything starts
with soil health. Years of over-farming theland meant much of what was acquired by
Dyson was lacking in nutrients. Inefficientland drainage leads to lower yields orruined crops. We have cleared ditchesand excavated deep to install new pipes toprovide drainage channels across our fields.
Working with the land to restore the balance
has meant stronger crops with higher
yields and healthy livestock.
We continue to trial new combinations andways to cover crop, which protects andenhances the nutritional quality of the soil.
Leaving soil bare means it is over-exposedto sun and rain which strips it of organicand mineral richness.

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Lateral pipes areevenly spaced acrossthe field to remove
excess moisture.

Water from the crossfield lateral pipes feeds
into a wide mains pipethat carries it awayfrom the field.

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We are working to reduce, and insome cases eliminate, chemicals andpesticides across the farms. We use
cutting-edge robotic vision technology
to target spray weeds in fields whether
in bare soil or hidden among green
crops. This allows us to move awayfrom blanket spraying and cut ourchemical consumption.

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21A composite
breed fromHereford, Angus,
Simmental andGelbvieh cattle

We practice ‘regenerative farming’
which supports soil health through fivemeasures: minimising soil disturbance,
keeping the surface covered, keeping
living roots in the soil, crop diversity,and livestock integration.

First bred in
Nebraska US
in the 1970s

Known for theirhigh fertility, goodfeet, docile nature,genal good healthand quality beef

80% of our herd
are stabiliser
cows

Grazing livestock on arable land atintervals is one of the ways we do this.
Manure from livestock and gentle
grazing reinvigorates the soil withoutcompromising soil structure.
2223

Precision
farming allows
us to protect
wildlife
We farm using sustainable methods
to encourage wildlife and cultivate ourenvironment. Our combine harvesters andother field-based equipment use technology towork the land with accuracy to the nearerst mm.
We use a combination of GPS and a beacon
system, which provide precision accuracy foreach row of planting and working. Drones survey
the fields from above to assess crop health andmaturity, with this data, combine harvesters areprogrammed to avoid rare ground nesting birds
such as the Marsh Harrier. As a result of using
this technology, nesting sites are subject
to less disturbance and kept intact.

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Protecting
the land andhabitats
Knowing what assets we have indetail, allows us to effectively manage
the land and encourage biodiversity.
We catalogue all environmental features
across our land which has included
counting 11,700 trees. Planting newtrees, removing invasive species andcreating habitats forwildlife, enhances
natural regeneration in our woodlands.
Hedgerows and dry stone wallingalso form a key part of the managed
countryside, providing habitats for insects
and small mammals – and corridors
for them to travel along, hidden frompredators. We’ve repaired and restored
over 10km in Gloucestershire, which isfamous for dry stone walls. We manage
nearly 400km of existing hedgerows
plus 20km of new planted hedges.
And 17.5km of laid hedges – a way of
encouraging thicker growth to contain
livestock without the need for fencing.
We built a 230m litre reservoir at
Nocton to maintain the balanceof secure water across the estate,throughout the year. A speciallydesigned lip around the edge of thereservoir means that water is always
available for wildlife. The reservoir issurrounded by 15ha of wildflowers,
so it’s a haven, too, for pollinatinginsects like bees and butterflies.
On top of extensive rights of way,
an additional 17km of permissiveaccess has been made available to
the general public to enjoy the land.
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Nurturingbiodiversity
We work with other organisations andcharities to share best practices andfeed data into national networks tobuild a picture of wildlife numbers andother initiatives across the UK.
Since 2018, we have recorded thenumbers of 20 species of rare birds
on Dyson Farming land. Throughour work to improve the habitats andnesting opportunities for rare birds,
we have seen numbers of Red Listed
Species including yellow wagtail andcorn bunting increase.
111 barn owl boxes have been erectedacross our land. They are monitored
annually, and we saw 74 chicks andeggs in 2021. Barn owls, once indecline across the UK, are flourishingon Dyson farmland. Stable predator
numbers are a good indication of
the health of local eco-systems.

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We are working to develop technology
to monitor pollinators in uncontrolledenvironments – measuring benefitsof environmental stewardship features
within the landscape.
We have seen the local bat populationof Barbastelle and Pipistrelle bats increasesince we erected 25 bat boxes, which wemonitor annually. However, through ourwoodland management and rerouting
walkers and their dogs away from Nocton
Wood, we have found many bats are
happy to make their homes in the trees.

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Sustainability has been at the heartof Dyson from the very start. We areled by engineers, and their approach –to do ‘more with less’ – has been evident
in our products and technology, from thefirst Dyson vacuum cleaner, the DC01,
right through to our latest launches.
But it doesn’t end with what we make.
We strive to be sustainable in everything
we do – in how we manufacture thoseproducts, to the buildings we restore to use
for our research and development. We aresustainable in our charitable endeavours,
including the James Dyson Award which
dedicates an entire category to sustainable
innovation. And we are sustainable inhow we produce food, using the latest
agriculture technology, at Dyson Farming,in harmony with environment.
This is one of four instalments thatsummarise what we have achieved insustainability, and where we will go next.
Other instalments:
Rethink: Products and technology
Renew: Buildings and manufacturing
Reshape: Education and medical research32