McDonald's AMP grazing project
Partner since 2000
Demonstrate AMP in practice, inspire and train producers in regenerative practices.
Regenerative Agriculture.
Project overview
The McDonald’s FAI AMP project looks to gain valuable insight into what Adaptive Multi Paddock (AMP) grazing looks like on a successful commercial UK beef system. AMP is a regenerative grazing technique that works with nature by placing cattle and their managers within the natural environment, mimicking natural processes in order to achieve more resilient farming systems. In 2020, FAI transitioned the beef enterprise over to AMP grazing and over the subsequent 4 years are collecting the detailed ethical, environmental and economic metrics to understand and document the impact of this novel grazing system.
Building upon our experiences and the progress demonstrated at the FAI farm, the McDonald’s FAI AMP project is creating a training platform that will help industry and other producers move UK beef production towards systems that give back to, and regenerate, our landscape.
Our latest AMP project update
In year 4 of our AMP transition Silas delves into grazing planning and management, discussing how we plan our grazing to make sure we have enough grass to keep the cattle outside grazing all year around whilst achieving regenerative outcomes. Karl discusses how we are taking our learnings so far into the McDonald's supply chain via the AMP network.
“This project presents a real opportunity to explore the ways in which we can futureproof the industry and drive more resilient production, to ensure our future beef supply contributes to a sustainable food system where people, local communities, animals and the planet can thrive. We can’t wait to see the impact this project could have on the UK beef industry.”
Harriet Wilson
Agriculture and Sustainable Sourcing Manager McDonald’s UK & Ireland
All videos
An introduction to Our Multi Paddock (AMP) Grazing project.
Tackling Farm's Red Flags - Clare and her team are looking closely at the root cause of problems on the farm by spotting ‘Red Flags’ such as weeds and cases of New Forest Eye. Find out how red flags can provide a deeper dive into what is really happening within the farm ecosystem.
The FAI team address a range of questions, from the practicality of keeping cows in cells and how long to keep them there; through to how we are building soil carbon and by how much. Finally, we briefly discuss the need for outcome based assessments of regenerative systems to ensure true regeneration for certification.
In this video, at the end of Year 2, Clare summarises our key learnings from adopting an Adaptive Multipaddock Grazing system on the FAI farm.
Two groups of farmers from McDonald’s UK&I Sustainable Beef Network (SBN) visited FAI Farms to see the AMP grazing project. On a tour of the farm, Silas Headley-Lawrence, FAI’s Farm Manager explains the system and the environmental and economic benefits we are seeing. We find out the SBN’s farmers thoughts about this system, including a few things that surprised them.
In the third year of our McDonald’s AMP project, along with the rest of the farming community, we faced some significant uncertainty including variable weather patterns and significantly increasing costs. In our Year 3 video, Silas and Karl reflect on these challenges and how our Regenerative AMP beef system held up in 2022.
After a wet December, Silas discusses how Adaptive Multi paddock Grazing has built resilience into our farming system.
Case studies
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