PepsiCo UK offers farmers web water, carbon saver

LONDON Oct 19 (Reuters) - PepsiCo UK and Ireland, whose brands include Walkers Crisps and Quaker Oats, said on Tuesday it will roll out globally a web-based crop management system to help farmers reduce water use and carbon emissions.

The company, a unit of PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N), has set a goal of reducing water use and carbon emissions from the farming of its core crops by 50 percent over the next 5 years.

Trials of i-crop, a web-based crop management system developed with Cambridge University, are underway at 22 farms in the U.K. and the technology will be rolled-out in Europe in 2011 and then to the United States.

The company hopes to take it to India, China, Mexico and Australia by 2012.

"i-crop has the potential to revolutionize the way we farm, enabling our farmers to save costs and water and carbon consumption, while at the same time improving their yields," Richard Evans, president of PepsiCo UK and Ireland said.

In the U.K. the company is the largest purchaser of British potatoes and also a major buyer of oats and apples.

The company is also conducting trials of low-carbon fertilizers and plans to replace 75 percent of its current potato stock with varieties that will significantly improve farmers' yields and decrease wastage by 2015. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by William Hardy)