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John Lewis Partnership plc Annual Report and Accounts 2015 2 3


PRINCIPLE 6 BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS


A BETTER WAY OF DOING BUSINESS


Principle 6 of our Constitution outlines our approach to our business relationships: “The Partnership aims to conduct all its business relationships with integrity and courtesy, and scrupulously to honour every business agreement.”


A REALLY POSITIVE ASPECT OF OUR BUSINESS MODEL IS THE NUMBER OF YOUNGER FARMERS WHO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET THEIR FIRST FOOT ON THE FARMING LADDER. WE HAVE ALSO BEEN ABLE TO REASSURE CUSTOMERS OF THE QUALITY AND CONSISTENCY


Our principle in action


Our approach leads to long-standing relationships, which in turn enable us to have confidence in our supply chain. Our Waitrose Farming Partnership is an excellent example of how we achieve this. It brings together our livestock meat suppliers to share best practice. As a result, we are confident that our meat is of the high quality that customers expect, produced with the highest standards of farming and respect for animal welfare and the environment, and with a fair price paid to British farmers.


Dalehead Foods (and its subsidiary BQP) is our only supplier of fresh pork, and has been a Waitrose supplier for more than 30 years. Its production methods far exceed UK standards. The transparent pricing formula we apply in this relationship means prices are more stable, so farmers are confident about what they will be paid. This respectful partnership approach has given BQP the ability to invest in the individual farms with which it works. This helps to increase capacity, improve standards and efficiency, and encourage the next generation of farmers.


a Since 2010, 44 of Dalehead’s farmer partners have invested more than £13 million in buildings, during a period of low confidence in the sector as a whole, to create new capacity to our production standard.


a BQP matched funded research into ‘Eco Pig’, an innovative feeding system with lower environmental impact. It then invested £3 million rolling it out across farms in its supply chain. The value of the feed saved was estimated at £850,000 per year.


a Dalehead’s farming partners are 10 years younger than average UK farmers and England pig farmers.


In 2014, we engaged economic specialists eftec (economics for the environment consultancy), to help us understand the benefits of our approach by looking at this specific relationship. They concluded that:


“The higher confidence and investment by Dalehead and its farmer partners than is typical within UK pork production brings benefits to Waitrose as a business. It creates a supply chain which is better able to deliver production to Waitrose’s high standards, and that has been able to expand to support Waitrose’s increased market share in the UK over recent years.”


Around 60% of the free range pigs in the UK are destined for Waitrose.


See the full report at www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk


OF OUR PRODUCT. Duncan Sinclair Agricultural Manager, Waitrose


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