The Garlic Farm is a B Corporation, which means we meet high standards of social and environmental performance. The ‘B’ you may have noticed on our packaging and on that of other businesses, is a symbolic of the work that goes on behind the scenes to measure our impact across five areas: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. It denotes not only that we consider the impact of our decisions on people and planet, but also that we continually measure and strive to improve. The symbol means that we’re part of a community of organisations that aim to use business as a force for good, balancing profit with purpose. The hope is that this galvanises our team to reflect on how we can do better and that the community creates a ‘ripple effect’, encouraging others to do the same.

We’ve been certified as a B Corp since 2023, and started engaging with the B Impact Assessment way back in 2019, when we began measuring our impact. Now, recertification is on the horizon and we’re faced with the challenge of maintaining and improving on our standards and goals. 

So, where have we come from and where are we now? We have seen a huge difference in our measurements across the board since 2019. For example, when measuring electricity usage against our baseline metric, we have made savings of 59% at our Langbridge site (office and warehouse) and 17% at our Mersley site (farm shop and restaurant). We’ve achieved this through installing solar panels, changing to more energy efficient lighting and through mindful usage (we turn everything off when it’s not in use!). We’ve made water savings of 18% (Langbridge) and 13% (Mersley), as well as reducing food waste and introducing a composting system. Separate to B Corp but connected nonetheless, we have began transitioning our product range to organic. This has resulted in one of our key suppliers developing an organic range – which we consider a big wins for environmental impact.

So, where next? The challenge for us at this stage is to maintain the high standards we have reached, find areas for improvement, implement changes and, crucially, keep the team engaged.

How are we doing this? With the aim of setting specific environmental and social goals, we have recently changed from quarterly meetings with Green Ambassadors to targeted departmental meetings. We’ve found this greatly improved efficiency and efficacy, resulting in short, achievable goals being set for each department. We’ve also began creating our Garlic Lover’s Garden – an organic market garden where we will grow seasonal fruit, vegetables and herbs for our restaurant and shop. The hope is that the garden will also help us reach some of our social and environmental goals - improving team wellbeing, customer satisfaction and community engagement.

Through these incremental small changes and ambitious projects, we’re aiming to continually improve our social and environmental standards. We’ve found that measuring actions has had an impact on behaviour, with small actions compounding over time. For example, switching off lights and being mindful of waste become ingrained habits, and these actions then create a ripple effect, with team members reporting changes in behaviours at home. Being part of a community of organisations sharing their wins, losses and experiences also creates a knock-on effect – sharing experiences forces reflection and encourages us to consider our wider community and the environmental impact of our choices. Breaking it down to its most simple level, behind the ‘B’ is a team of people, hoping to do some good through simple actions such as sharing information, measuring utility usage and sowing seeds.