Page 23 - Spring 22

• One of the many ways in which we have reduced our carbon footprint is by finding local producers to supply us and thus keeping dog food miles to a minimum. For example, a third of our ingredients are sourced from a farm just 17 miles from Honey’s HQ in Pewsey, Wiltshire. All our ingredients are British.
• Our packaging is 100% recyclable.
Last year we announced that we planned to become a Certified B-Corporation. We employed some consultants to help us achieve this but due to pressure of work we haven’t yet been able to start the application process. However, we have high hopes of starting the process this autumn.
Honey’s and animal welfare
As you may be aware, I have farmed myself and written about it extensively as a journalist. This is not the place to describe what I have seen in factory farms... I will simply say that we reject intensively farmed meat on ethical, health, environmental and nutritional grounds. Our animal welfare policy can be summarised as follows:
• We only buy pasture fed, free range, organic and wild meat and we have a strict ingredients policy, which we publish.
• We make regular farm and abattoir visits (we have just started these again) to see for ourselves that our welfare standards are being met.
• We are certified organic and also certified with Pasture for Life.
• We donate 1% of our sales to Compassion in World Farming a not-for-profit that campaigns for higher farm animal welfare standards.
• We recently launched a Career Support Programme for Honey’s team members who wish to further their education.
Honey’s and good causes
We never, ever turn away a good cause. We don’t keep track of how much we donate in this way as it varies from week to week. As explained above, 1% of sales is also donated to Compassion in World Farming. We also make a regular monthly donation to the Rainforest Trust UK, of which I am a trustee. We support a number of other charities and not- for-profits on a regular basis including The British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons (BAHVS), Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Animals (CAM4Animals) and The Raw Feeding Veterinary
Society (RFVS).
In conclusion
I hope that this gives you a feel for where we are when it comes to the way we run Honey’s, our beliefs and interests. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you would like to share your thoughts on any of the above and/or for more information. In particular, we are always keen to support any member of the BAHVS. My personal email address is js@jonathanself.com
www.honeysrealdogfood
Honey’s and education
In the past, we were focussed on research (please do ask for a copy of the main study we funded: Raw Proof), but more recently we have put our resources into education. For example:
• We have formed a partnership with the Canine and Feline Behaviourists Association (CFBA) to jointly fund education projects.
• We have commissioned two BBC journalists to help us create a Continuous Professional Development programme for veterinary surgeons and nurses.
• We have lost count of how many copies of The Natural Feeding Handbook we have given away – but it is well over 100,000.