Food is a growth area for Marks and Spencer (M&S) according to its senior agricultural manager.

Peter Kennedy said that M&S is committed to providing regionally sourced foods into all of its outlets and that the retailer wants to "enhance this level of commitment" to customers.

“Currently, there are 22 M&S stores in Northern Ireland. Our plan is to expand this number while also investing in our existing sites. M&S has an Ireland-based sourcing team, committed to making this happen," Kennedy said.

“Our development plan takes full recognition of the fact that M&S can sell more food in Northern Ireland. And it’s in this context that the scope to source more locally produced liquid milk exists."

Currently the Belfast and Glasgow catchment areas are the largest retailing centres for M&S, where food and drink are concerned.

“The M&S Select Farm Programme underpins the standards that we expect our primary producers to meet," Kennedy continued.

“The attainment of animal welfare and environmental standards are critically important for M&S. But at the end of the day, the relationship comes down to working with farmers that we know and trust.”

M&S has also acknowledged that sustainability and farming carbon are important to its customers.

"But their number one priority is ensuring that the highest animal welfare standards are being met, at all times, on our suppliers’ farms," Kennedy added.

So, for instance, mobility scoring cows and reducing levels of lameness represent key M&S welfare-related areas on dairy farms.

Nick Bell, a veterinary surgeon and farm consultant, has been involved with the M&S milk pool since 2006.

He audits all the M&S dairy suppliers on a regular basis and has worked with them to develop mobility scoring as a specific means of managing the challenge posed by lameness in cows.

“All our dairy suppliers receive visits from two vets on an annual basis. This strategy is very much centred on developing outcome measures for each of the businesses concerned,” Kennedy commented.

“The approach encompasses an assessment of all the stock on the farms and how they are faring from a performance perspective.

“There is a clear focus on lameness, other aspects related to animal welfare plus an overall assessment of the herd health standards being achieved by individual farmers.

“We review the management criteria required of all our farmers on an annual basis," he concluded.