Create homes for wildlife in your garden with ‘Jordans 10% Challenge’

Create homes for wildlife in your garden with ‘Jordans 10% Challenge’

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One of Britain’s best-known cereal companies, Jordans Cereals, is issuing a challenge to Britain’s gardeners to follow the example set by farmers that grow Jordans cereals and make at least 10% of their gardens into homes for wildlife. Between now and this time next year Jordans is aiming for 10,000 gardeners to join in the 10% Challenge and make at least 10% of their gardens wildlife friendly – in acres this is equivalent to 18 football pitches!

The company’s long-term ambition is for gardeners to turn 10% of the one million acres of garden in the UK - 100,000 acres – into wildlife friendly habitats. That’s equivalent to 63,291 football pitches.

In a first for a major UK food brand, Jordans is topping up the £2 million¹ it has already invested in Conservation Grade™ farming by launching ‘JORDANS 10% CHALLENGE’ aimed at creating new homes for wildlife across Britain.

Among the first to respond to the ‘Jordans 10% Challenge’ is farmer and wildlife expert, JIMMY DOHERTY who is presenting a video hosted on www.jordanscereals.co.uk. There will also be top tips, downloadable guides, ideas to get the children involved, competitions and a blog from Jimmy.  The campaign encourages everyone to get involved with creating homes for birds, bees and butterflies which are vital to the UK’s delicate ecosystem. 

The campaign also features top tips from Marney Hall, Gold winner at both the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows, and a competition offering a chance to win a garden makeover by Marney and her team.

Jordans Cereals is the ONLY cereal brand in the UK that asks the farmers that grow their cereals to dedicate 10% of their farmland to wildlife habitats, so that nature can thrive. 

Jimmy says: “The farmers that grow cereals for Jordans on around 50,000 acres of arable farmland in the UK are already making a major difference to wildlife conservation in Britain.”

“By inviting the nation’s gardeners to take up Jordans 10% Challenge, we’re hoping to create even more homes for wildlife. There’s a tremendous amount of space in the UK, just ready and waiting to be a home for birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife, and with recent declines in numbers, they need all the help they can get,” he concludes.

Bill Jordan, co-founder of Jordans Cereals and the Conservation Grade™ farming system, comments:  

“Because of their close relationship with the land, the Conservation Grade™ farmers that grow cereal for Jordans are very aware that nature is struggling and needs help. They are all genuinely committed to creating more homes for wildlife but if more of us get involved, the results will be even better. This is why Jordans is making it easy for everyone to play a part and get enjoyment out of it too.  Whether you’ve got rolling acres, a tiny courtyard or even just a hanging basket, everyone can take the Jordans 10% Challenge.”

Today, Jordans sources its cereals from 50 farms including Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Hampshire which operate to Conservation Grade™ standards. The total landholding extends to around 50,000 acres with research showing that the 10% allocation is a definite benefit to wildlife, increasing both the range and numbers of species able to prosper.

Research on Conservation Grade™ farms has shown a 41% increase in birds, an eightfold increase in butterflies (with 22 species recorded overall), a thirteen fold increase in bees and a thirty fold increase in small mammals such as water voles within certain habitats on the farm (source: Manor Farm Trial 1999 and Buzz project 1999 – 2004 audited by the centre for Ecology and Hydrology).

To pledge support for Jordans 10% Challenge, visit www.jordanscereals.co.uk. Jordans is offering fifty people who have made the pledge a 10% Challenge kit, containing all the tools you’ll need to get started, and their progress will be charted on the Jordans website.

¹Jordans has invested £2 million over the past 10 years into the British countryside through premiums paid to Conservation Grade™ farmers who have grown grain for Jordans since 2001.

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