Lidl to invest £15bn into British suppliers over the next five years

The record sum comes alongside a commitment to increase sales of British sourced fresh meat, poultry and fresh produce by more than 10 per cent over the next 12 months.

It follows Lidl’s pledge to source 100 per cent of its listed fresh poultry from UK farms.

Suppliers will also be supported through longer-term contracts to allow them to invest for the future, while young farmers and new entrants will be supported by a young farmers programme.

Young farmer Sam Bailey, 23, is benefiting from both initiatives and has been able to grow his business through the supermarket’s Grassroots Dairy Partnership, which was formed as part of Lidl’s long-term contract with Muller.

He is supplying 50 per cent of his milk to Lidl GB stores.

Fran Bell, another dairy farmer supplying Lidl through Muller, said: “Our farming business has committed to large capital investments to modernise and promote efficiencies in preparation to include our next generation within the business.