May 6, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

The Halsall Estate Ltd, a company established this January by Tom Morris, the founder and CEO of UK-based retail chain Home Bargains, has acquired nearly 5,000 acres of farmland in Halsall, West Lancashire from the Church of England in a deal valued at £50 million (US$70 million). 

Morris founded the discount chain Home Bargains in 1976, which today employs 25,000 people across 525 stores, earning the Morris family a fortune of £4.1 billion (US$5.7 billion).

The land was sold by the Church Commissioners – the administrator of the property assets owned by the Church of England consisting of approximately 95,000 acres and an £8.7 billion (US$12 billion) investment fund.

The acquisition was made by The Halsall Estate as a move to “help farmers grow and promote British produce”, and although it is not currently known how many tenant farmers are operating on the property, a spokesperson has stated, “Following the purchase of Halsall Estate, all tenants have been assured that the terms of their existing tenancies will be honored and there have been no change to any tenancy agreements on our behalf, before or after the purchase.”

The Church Commissioners for England have also stated that, “All parties affected have been notified and where tenancies are in place these will remain.”

Leading from the Top

As Morris announces a major move into farmland ownership, the UK is seeing a shift toward greater awareness of the interconnectedness of the land, our personal wellbeing, and the wellbeing of the planet.

The country has recently seen a drive toward a more sustainable future through initiatives designed to attract large-scale investment into natural capital assets launched by HRH The Prince of Wales.

In January of this year, pioneer natural capital investors HSBC Pollination Climate Asset Management, Lombard Odier, and Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers announced themselves as the three founding members of the Natural Capital Investment Alliance established by HRH The Prince of Wales as part of his Sustainable Markets Initiative. 

The Alliance was announced by HRH The Prince of Wales following his launch of Terra Carta (Earth Charter), a charter outlining the basis of a global recovery plan to 2030 that creates a new standard of value creation with Nature, People, and the Planet at its heart. 

Modeling its name upon the Magna Carta – the 800 year-old charter outlining the rights of man signed by King John at Runnymede in July 2015 – the Terra Carta was designed by former chief design officer at Apple, Sir Jony Ive, and is based on a series of recommendations garnered over the course of a year through HRH gathering “coalitions of the willing” across every industry tasked with identifying courses of action that would be a foundation for a more sustainable future.

The charter builds upon global initiatives and agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement, the Convention of Biological Diversity, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, outlining 10 areas of focus that are an umbrella for nearly 100 actions for businesses to take.

One of these actions  – the Natural Capital Investment Alliance – was launched at the One Planet Summit in Paris aiming to accelerate Natural Capital as an investment class and to engage the US$120 trillion investment management industry to mobilize US$10 billion in capital toward Natural Capital themes across asset classes by 2022. 

“The  interdependence between human health and planetary health has never been more clear,” said His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales speaking at the One Planet Summit. “For so many of the problems we face, Nature, with the benefit of billions of years of evolution, has already  provided us with the solutions. But time is fast running out and we are rapidly wiping out, through  mass extinctions, many of Nature’s unique treasure trove of species from which we can develop innovative and sustainable products for the future. As we urgently seek to rescue the situation, we must now look to invest in Natural Capital as the engine of our economy.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.