The Flower Farm helps save tropical rainforest by reducing demand for palm oil

The Flower Farm, a new palm oil-free margarine on a mission to save the tropical rainforest from deforestation, is available to buy for the first time in the UK, launching in Booths.

The Flower Farm’s expansion to the UK follows a successful roll out in the Netherlands, with listings secured in 15 major Dutch supermarkets including leading retailer, Albert Heijn.

Replacing palm oil with Shea butter, The Flower Farm is a 100% plant-based margarine, free from palm-oil, gluten, lactose, and cow’s milk protein. Perfect for spreading and frying, it has a recommended retail price of £2.95 for 450g, with a light option available.

Founded by Dutch entrepreneur, Marcel van Wing, after witnessing first-hand the destruction of the tropical rainforest, The Flower Farm is on a mission to raise awareness amongst UK consumers of the palm oil problem.

Currently found in over half of all supermarket products, palm oil is one of the world’s biggest causes of rainforest deforestation. Around 85 per cent is produced unsustainably, with millions of hectares of rainforest in Asia systematically burned by to make way for oil palm plantations.

This is not only damaging for the environment, but is the leading cause of orangutan extinction, with up to 5,000 orangutans killed each year in palm oil concessions

Marcel van Wing, founder of The Flower Farm, said: “The Flower Farm grew out of my personal love for the rainforest. I lived in Indonesia and saw with my own eyes the devastating damage to the rainforest for the construction of palm oil plantations. Yet still, this continues.

“With palm oil demand predicted to treble from 75 million tons to 264 million tons per year in the next 25 years [USADA], more than 30 million hectares of additional rainforest will be destroyed for palm oil plantations. This is simply not sustainable.

“The rainforest is the basis of everything global nature needs to survive. If we want to preserve the planet for future generations, we have to act now. Using palm oil-free products is a small step, but it’s a good place to start.”

Renowned for its health benefits, the Shea butter used in The Flower Farm’s production is extracted from the nuts of the Karité tree, 2 billion of which grow naturally in the African Savannah, with no deforestation required.

As a result, The Flower Farm has saved approximately 560,000kg of palm oil, which would have taken 1.5 million square metres of palm oil plantation to produce.

Marcel added: “People play a fundamental role in the fight against rainforest deforestation. By switching to a palm-oil free margarine, one family of four people can save up to 17kg of palm in just one year – the equivalent of 44 square metres of palm oil plantation.

“As consumers become increasingly ecologically-minded, we want to work with UK retailers to make it easier for shoppers to opt for a palm-oil free alternative to traditional margarine, removing as many barriers as possible in terms of price, packaging and taste.”

The Flower Farm is a member of the Global Shea Alliance, a non-profit organisation dedicated to shea sustainability. It also supports Orangutan Rescue, a non-profit focused on relocating endangered orangutans to a safe area of rainforest.

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