McVitie’s highlights British wheat as Pladis expands support for farmers
The new packaging links McVitie’s Digestives with British wheat while pladis continues to grow its regenerative farming programme.
UK – Pladis will introduce new packaging for its McVitie’s Digestives Original range from the end of July, highlighting that the biscuits use 100% British wheat and showing the company’s work with local farmers through its Back to Farm programme.
The updated packs, which will appear across grocery, wholesale and convenience channels, carry the messages “100% British Wheat” and “Partnering with Farmers.” The company said the change responds to growing consumer interest in knowing where food comes from and how producers grow it.
Pladis works with just over 50 farmers through its Back to Farm programme. The scheme provides financial and practical support to help farmers adopt regenerative farming methods. More than 4,000 hectares now use these practices, producing over 30,000 tonnes of grain each year. The company said that amount is roughly equal to the annual wheat needed for McVitie’s Original Digestives.
“We are proud to showcase our commitment to British farmers and therefore our Back to Farm programme on pack by letting progressively knowledgeable and engaged consumers know that we use only British grown wheat in all our McVitie’s Original Digestives,” said Jennifer Parise, Director Procurement, pladis UK and Ireland.
“We also help to support British farmers through Back to Farm in which wheat is grown using regenerative practices aimed at improving soil health and biodiversity.”
Parise said the programme operates with Frontier Agriculture and offers financial incentives for farmers who grow wheat varieties that meet pladis’ quality and performance standards through regenerative methods. She added that the scheme uses a flexible recognition system that rewards current sustainable farming practices while encouraging further improvement.
“Our goal is to have over 50% of all wheat used in our UK baked products grown through our Back to Farm programme by the end of 2030, and having more growers and more land farmed as part of our programme is critical to this,” she said.
The announcement comes weeks after pladis expanded its Hobnobs range with the launch of McVitie’s White Hobnobs. The new product combines the brand’s wholegrain oat biscuit with a white chocolate flavour coating to offer consumers another choice within the range.
Made with 100% wholegrain oats, the biscuits come in 232 gram packs with a recommended retail price of US$2.99 (£2.25). Morrisons began stocking the product from mid June, with a wider rollout across major UK retailers from mid July.
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