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Working with our Ribena suppliers to improve biodiversity

Case Study

Working with our Ribena suppliers to improve biodiversity

GSK, and its heritage companies, have been making Ribena for 70 years. We now buy 95% of the UK’s blackcurrant crop, from 45 growers. Many of these farmers are family businesses that have been supplying berries for Ribena for generations.

It takes three years before a blackcurrant bush produces any fruit so it is a big investment. We buy directly from the grower and agree seven year contracts, helping them plan ahead.

Blackcurrant farming is now mechanised with berries shaken from the bushes by harvesting machines, rather than picked by hand. This has enabled us to reduce the number of blackcurrant suppliers – and work more closely with a smaller group of growers.

This close relationship has led to farming and environmental improvements. One such initiative is a partnership with the Wildlife Trust to increase biodiversity.

Helped by the Wildlife Trust, growers are introducing simple changes to improve the habitat for animals both in the crop and on the field edges. Each farm has drawn up an environmental action plan. Measures include trimming hedges less frequently and only at certain times of the year. Hedgerows are the ‘green veins’ of the countryside providing food, shelter and breeding sites for many native species. Less frequent trimming, every 2-3 years, allows hedges to grow and produce fruit, providing food for birds, bats, small mammals and insects. Farmers also leave uncultivated margins around the fields, protecting hedges from spraying, adding bat and bird boxes and planting new trees.

Other joint projects with our growers include research with the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to increase the vitamin C content in Ribena.

GSK has helped establish a blackcurrant growers group that meets quarterly to share best practice, and the Blackcurrant Foundation, an organisation to promote the health and environmental benefits of blackcurrants.

Similar initiatives are underway with our growers in New Zealand, which supply blackcurrants for Ribena sold in Asia.