Julie Owst is a sustainability leader who has helped redefine what responsible business looks like in the foodservice industry. With a strong focus on ESG integration and circular economy principles, she has guided large-scale cultural shifts that embed sustainability into business strategy and daily operations. Her leadership continues to inspire industry-wide collaboration toward a more sustainable food future.
The sustainability of food supply is often a hot topic for discussion in the industry, whether it’s due to poor harvests, the carbon impact of conventionally farmed meat and dairy, deforestation, biodiversity impacts, regenerative farming principles, the list goes on. Yet strangely, water, which fuels all food supply, is rarely discussed, which is staggering, when you consider that 72 percent of global freshwater is used in agricultural production (UNESCO). It grows our crops, raises our livestock and keeps our entire food system moving. But our water systems are under threat and if we care about being able to eat in the future, we should care about water. Without water, there’s no food and therefore no future.
Many factors threaten water, and glaciers, a vast store of freshwater, are rapidly diminishing. This loss directly impacts water in food supply, as glaciers provide crucial irrigation for crops. The Himalayas for example, hold the world’s third-largest store of glacier ice and provide water for around 129 million farmers. It doesn’t take long to realise that shrinking glaciers threaten rice production. India supplies most of the UK’s basmati rice, a key ingredient in the UK’s favourite dish, chicken tikka masala! When seasonal glacial melting fails to provide enough water, farmers turn to groundwater, increasing pressure on this vital resource.
Research in the US showed that unlike action on climate, which is politically controversial amongst voters, concerns about water transcend conventional political divides and this is likely to be the case in other countries too. Unlike carbon emissions, which create a longer-term impact, globally and unequally, water concerns hit closer to home with greater urgency.
We publicly report our water usage and savings, actively engaged in initiatives to use water responsibly, install rainwater harvesting system at many depots, and use ‘grey’ water in our truck washes at others.
Water issues are felt globally, whether the issue is flooding, scarcity or quality. For example, in 2024, droughts in Spain decimated crops of peppers by 50 percent. UK rapeseed crops were 30 percent down due to floods, and UK butter production was down 10 percent YOY. The price went up by 33 percent since the previous October, as cows were unable to graze waterlogged fields.
This should inspire us to take action! Water is a really tangible resource that we’re all so familiar with. We swim in it, drink it, wash in it and our supply chain logistics rely on it.
We’re all influenced to varying degrees by water issues both domestically and further afield. England had its wettest 18 months on record from September 2022 to February 2024, which led to a 5 percent drop in UK vegetable production, whilst in 2025, devastating droughts in West Africa and other growing regions threaten major crops, including corn, coffee, cocoa and sugar, sending commodity prices soaring.
The news isn’t all bad though. People and organisations, like WRAP, are finding ways to use water more responsibly and are actively working on projects worldwide to keep it flowing.
Bidfood is part of WRAP’s Water Roadmap. We publicly report our water usage and savings, actively engaged in initiatives to use water responsibly, install rainwater harvesting system at many depots, and use ‘grey’ water in our truck washes at others.
We also helped collectively fund research into water scarcity in Southern Spain, for example, as this is a key growing area for UK produce. We’ve produced a factsheet about water so that our customers can find out more.
To take a step further, we wanted to know how much of the food we sell comes from suppliers also participating in the roadmap. In 2024, our research revealed that only 5.27% of the food we sold came from suppliers supporting this roadmap.
We’re now reaching out to our suppliers to ask more of them to sign up to the Roadmap. This issue is too important to ignore and Bidfood aims to be a positive force for change. This campaign aims to spark more conversations about water, a critical topic that often goes overlooked. We recognise the lack of discussion about water and are using this campaign to change that. We look forward to reporting on the effectiveness of this campaign in our 2025 sustainability report.
In reporting terms, it’s so much harder to get our heads around water challenges than carbon emissions. An ‘averaged out’ or ‘mass balance’ approach isn’t helpful, as challenges are regional in nature; it’s arguably of little value to report on water-saving measures in a region of plentiful and reliable rainfall, but it would be highly relevant in areas of high-water stress.
Not only that, but rainfall is highly variable, as we know all too well in the UK. We’ve already mentioned the dry spring of 2025, but spring in 2024 was one of the wettest, so our farmers have unpredictable challenges to deal with.
The need to develop resilience to cope with unpredictable rainfall is one of the reasons why the transition to regenerative farming is increasingly seen as a way forward. Better and deeper root systems enable crops to cope far better in periods of drought, whilst hedgerows and deeper roots stabilise soil and accelerate absorption in times of excess rain.
Water underpins global food and by extension, our survival. It makes sense to invest in better water stewardship measures; this starts by engaging your supply chain. Do visit WRAP’s Water Roadmap to find out more.
