Waitrose shoppers will be able to eat their greens with an easier conscience after the high-end food retailer announced it had raised the bar on environmental protection for its UK growers.

In a first for the retail sector, all of Waitrose's non-organic British fruit and vegetables are now grown on farms that have been

certified by the Linking Environment and Farming scheme (LEAF).

LEAF describes itself as the environmental complement to existing farm and food assurance schemes, and covers issues such as waste recycling, water usage, communicating with the community, minimising the use of chemicals and wildlife conservation.

It has taken seven years for more than 100 Waitrose farmers to make the grade.

Waitrose said that the key benefit was the focus on conserving habitats around the farm. Fruit, vegetables and horticulture buyer Mary Vizoso said: "Like Waitrose, LEAF is committed to furthering the

production of food that has provenance and integrity and is a signpost to customers of the high environmental standards by which

produce has been grown."

All non-organic British produce in the store will be labelled with the LEAF marque. A new TV campaign will focus on the benefits for rare British species such as dormice, voles and weasels.

Sylvia Howe at LEAF explained: "Basically it's good old-fashioned farming - the farmers can use chemicals if they have to, but

they undertake to use as little as possible.

"We think it's a real coup and the idea we now want to work on is telling

consumers about it."

She admitted that LEAF was still relatively little-known among consumers, and said that the 300-member body was planning activities to improve consumer awareness.

LEAF is also in talks with the other major retailers over the marque. The aim

is to build up a LEAF offer that sits in its own fixture, like organics.

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