Case study
Case study
Case study
Commercial horticulture
Commercial horticulture
Commercial horticulture
How G's Group expanded production and improved desert soil in Senegal
How G's Group expanded production and improved desert soil in Senegal
How G's Group expanded production and improved desert soil in Senegal
About
G's Group
G's Group established West Africa Farms in Senegal in 2011 to grow spring onions, radish and green beans for export to the UK and Europe, with most production falling over the winter period. Crops grow on a centre-pivot system irrigated from the nearby Lac de Guiers, and the team washes and packs produce before it ships by fast boat from Dakar, reaching the UK in five to seven days. The farm employs more than 2,000 local people, holds GlobalG.A.P. certification, and runs biodiversity projects that monitor wildlife and expand habitat across the site.
About
G's Group
G's Group established West Africa Farms in Senegal in 2011 to grow spring onions, radish and green beans for export to the UK and Europe, with most production falling over the winter period. Crops grow on a centre-pivot system irrigated from the nearby Lac de Guiers, and the team washes and packs produce before it ships by fast boat from Dakar, reaching the UK in five to seven days. The farm employs more than 2,000 local people, holds GlobalG.A.P. certification, and runs biodiversity projects that monitor wildlife and expand habitat across the site.
About
G's Group
G's Group established West Africa Farms in Senegal in 2011 to grow spring onions, radish and green beans for export to the UK and Europe, with most production falling over the winter period. Crops grow on a centre-pivot system irrigated from the nearby Lac de Guiers, and the team washes and packs produce before it ships by fast boat from Dakar, reaching the UK in five to seven days. The farm employs more than 2,000 local people, holds GlobalG.A.P. certification, and runs biodiversity projects that monitor wildlife and expand habitat across the site.
Senegal
location
Senegal
location
Senegal
location
729
hectares
729
hectares
729
hectares
Land restoration
Programme
Land restoration
Programme
Land restoration
Programme
9,406 tCO₂e
Programme reach
9,406 tCO₂e
Programme reach
9,406 tCO₂e
Programme reach
challenges
Scaling export production on reclaimed Sahelian land
Farming at West Africa Farms means producing export crops on reclaimed land in a Sahelian environment, where climate variability, soil degradation, and water scarcity all affect what the land can sustain. As G's Group scales production to meet growing demand across the UK and Europe, the long-term productivity of that land directly affects supply continuity, customer commitments, and the group's own targets on soil, water, and emissions. The site sits far from G's Group's UK base, and the group can adjust relatively few variables on the ground given its crop mix and the constraints of the pivot system. Proving its land management holds up, and evidencing the soil trajectory over time, therefore depends on measurements the business can trust and repeat without moving physical samples across continents.
challenges
Scaling export production on reclaimed Sahelian land
Farming at West Africa Farms means producing export crops on reclaimed land in a Sahelian environment, where climate variability, soil degradation, and water scarcity all affect what the land can sustain. As G's Group scales production to meet growing demand across the UK and Europe, the long-term productivity of that land directly affects supply continuity, customer commitments, and the group's own targets on soil, water, and emissions. The site sits far from G's Group's UK base, and the group can adjust relatively few variables on the ground given its crop mix and the constraints of the pivot system. Proving its land management holds up, and evidencing the soil trajectory over time, therefore depends on measurements the business can trust and repeat without moving physical samples across continents.
challenges
Scaling export production on reclaimed Sahelian land
Farming at West Africa Farms means producing export crops on reclaimed land in a Sahelian environment, where climate variability, soil degradation, and water scarcity all affect what the land can sustain. As G's Group scales production to meet growing demand across the UK and Europe, the long-term productivity of that land directly affects supply continuity, customer commitments, and the group's own targets on soil, water, and emissions. The site sits far from G's Group's UK base, and the group can adjust relatively few variables on the ground given its crop mix and the constraints of the pivot system. Proving its land management holds up, and evidencing the soil trajectory over time, therefore depends on measurements the business can trust and repeat without moving physical samples across continents.
challenge 1
International soil sampling created a logistics and sample-integrity problem
G's Group previously shipped physical soil samples from Senegal back to the UK for analysis. Moving samples 4,643 kilometres costs money, takes time, and degrades sample condition before it reaches the lab, weakening the reliability of the resulting data. Every figure built on those samples carried uncertainty into the group's reporting, and each sampling round added cost and lead time to a process the group needs to repeat year after year.
challenge 1
International soil sampling created a logistics and sample-integrity problem
G's Group previously shipped physical soil samples from Senegal back to the UK for analysis. Moving samples 4,643 kilometres costs money, takes time, and degrades sample condition before it reaches the lab, weakening the reliability of the resulting data. Every figure built on those samples carried uncertainty into the group's reporting, and each sampling round added cost and lead time to a process the group needs to repeat year after year.
challenge 1
International soil sampling created a logistics and sample-integrity problem
G's Group previously shipped physical soil samples from Senegal back to the UK for analysis. Moving samples 4,643 kilometres costs money, takes time, and degrades sample condition before it reaches the lab, weakening the reliability of the resulting data. Every figure built on those samples carried uncertainty into the group's reporting, and each sampling round added cost and lead time to a process the group needs to repeat year after year.
challenge 2
A constrained growing environment limits the levers available
The Senegal site differs considerably from the group's UK operations. The team needs clear evidence of which limited interventions advance land conditions. With so few levers available, each management decision carries more weight for both yield and land condition, and backing an intervention that fails to deliver costs more.
challenge 2
A constrained growing environment limits the levers available
The Senegal site differs considerably from the group's UK operations. The team needs clear evidence of which limited interventions advance land conditions. With so few levers available, each management decision carries more weight for both yield and land condition, and backing an intervention that fails to deliver costs more.
challenge 2
A constrained growing environment limits the levers available
The Senegal site differs considerably from the group's UK operations. The team needs clear evidence of which limited interventions advance land conditions. With so few levers available, each management decision carries more weight for both yield and land condition, and backing an intervention that fails to deliver costs more.
challenge 3
Land restoration lacked a consistent way to evidence its trajectory
The group has restored land and irrigated it into productive farmland. Still, it held no continuous, comparable record showing how the land changed year on year or connecting those changes to specific management decisions. Without that record, the group could describe its reclamation work, but could not evidence it to the consistent, repeatable standard that environmental reporting and its own soil and Net Zero commitments call for.
challenge 3
Land restoration lacked a consistent way to evidence its trajectory
The group has restored land and irrigated it into productive farmland. Still, it held no continuous, comparable record showing how the land changed year on year or connecting those changes to specific management decisions. Without that record, the group could describe its reclamation work, but could not evidence it to the consistent, repeatable standard that environmental reporting and its own soil and Net Zero commitments call for.
challenge 3
Land restoration lacked a consistent way to evidence its trajectory
The group has restored land and irrigated it into productive farmland. Still, it held no continuous, comparable record showing how the land changed year on year or connecting those changes to specific management decisions. Without that record, the group could describe its reclamation work, but could not evidence it to the consistent, repeatable standard that environmental reporting and its own soil and Net Zero commitments call for.
Our response
A continuous, remotely measured record of land restoration
Downforce measured West Africa Farms remotely from January 2017 to today, using digital soil mapping to track soil organic carbon across the site. The sampling G's Group had already paid for was not set aside. Those samples, alongside regional reference data, were used to calibrate the measurement against observed conditions at the site, so earlier investment in physical sampling became the foundation the continuous record is built on rather than a cost the group had to keep repeating. What the group has now is a consistent, repeatable baseline running back nine years, showing how the soil changed as land came into production, with the uncertainty stated rather than implied.
Our response
A continuous, remotely measured record of land restoration
Downforce measured West Africa Farms remotely from January 2017 to today, using digital soil mapping to track soil organic carbon across the site. The sampling G's Group had already paid for was not set aside. Those samples, alongside regional reference data, were used to calibrate the measurement against observed conditions at the site, so earlier investment in physical sampling became the foundation the continuous record is built on rather than a cost the group had to keep repeating. What the group has now is a consistent, repeatable baseline running back nine years, showing how the soil changed as land came into production, with the uncertainty stated rather than implied.
Our response
A continuous, remotely measured record of land restoration
Downforce measured West Africa Farms remotely from January 2017 to today, using digital soil mapping to track soil organic carbon across the site. The sampling G's Group had already paid for was not set aside. Those samples, alongside regional reference data, were used to calibrate the measurement against observed conditions at the site, so earlier investment in physical sampling became the foundation the continuous record is built on rather than a cost the group had to keep repeating. What the group has now is a consistent, repeatable baseline running back nine years, showing how the soil changed as land came into production, with the uncertainty stated rather than implied.
response 1
Digital soil measurement removed the sampling bottleneck
Downforce measures the Senegal land remotely, so G's Group does not rely on shipping samples to the UK. The group gets a consistent read on land condition without the cost, delay and quality loss of international sample transport. The same method extends to other sites in the portfolio without adding time, sampling logistics or courier costs.
response 1
Digital soil measurement removed the sampling bottleneck
Downforce measures the Senegal land remotely, so G's Group does not rely on shipping samples to the UK. The group gets a consistent read on land condition without the cost, delay and quality loss of international sample transport. The same method extends to other sites in the portfolio without adding time, sampling logistics or courier costs.
response 1
Digital soil measurement removed the sampling bottleneck
Downforce measures the Senegal land remotely, so G's Group does not rely on shipping samples to the UK. The group gets a consistent read on land condition without the cost, delay and quality loss of international sample transport. The same method extends to other sites in the portfolio without adding time, sampling logistics or courier costs.
response 2
A multi-year record captured soil health as it regenerated
Downforce's continuous measurement shows the land's trajectory across successive years, including the effect of the centre-pivot irrigation system as reclaimed desert moved into production. That record lets G's Group show the return on its reclamation and irrigation investment in the condition of the land itself, alongside the crops it harvests each season.
response 2
A multi-year record captured soil health as it regenerated
Downforce's continuous measurement shows the land's trajectory across successive years, including the effect of the centre-pivot irrigation system as reclaimed desert moved into production. That record lets G's Group show the return on its reclamation and irrigation investment in the condition of the land itself, alongside the crops it harvests each season.
response 2
A multi-year record captured soil health as it regenerated
Downforce's continuous measurement shows the land's trajectory across successive years, including the effect of the centre-pivot irrigation system as reclaimed desert moved into production. That record lets G's Group show the return on its reclamation and irrigation investment in the condition of the land itself, alongside the crops it harvests each season.
response 3
Data patterns were validated against on-farm management decisions
Downforce worked with the G's Group team to link the measurement results to the changes they made in the field. Where one irrigation segment read low in one year and high the next, the two sides discussed the management differences behind that shift, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. With that confidence, the team can use the data to decide which management choices to repeat and scale.
response 3
Data patterns were validated against on-farm management decisions
Downforce worked with the G's Group team to link the measurement results to the changes they made in the field. Where one irrigation segment read low in one year and high the next, the two sides discussed the management differences behind that shift, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. With that confidence, the team can use the data to decide which management choices to repeat and scale.
response 3
Data patterns were validated against on-farm management decisions
Downforce worked with the G's Group team to link the measurement results to the changes they made in the field. Where one irrigation segment read low in one year and high the next, the two sides discussed the management differences behind that shift, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. With that confidence, the team can use the data to decide which management choices to repeat and scale.
Key findings
Evidence at work
Key findings
Evidence at work
Key findings
Evidence at work
01
Pivot establishment shows up directly in the soil organic carbon record
Downforce's West Africa Farms record spans January 2017 to December 2025. The 2017 map shows low soil organic carbon across the south-west area, before the pivots were established. The 2025 map shows higher soil organic carbon across those same pivots once they came into production. The land establishment is visible in both the annual map and the underlying data. For G's Group, this confirms that its capital investment in pivot infrastructure has built the soil's productive capacity.
01
Pivot establishment shows up directly in the soil organic carbon record
Downforce's West Africa Farms record spans January 2017 to December 2025. The 2017 map shows low soil organic carbon across the south-west area, before the pivots were established. The 2025 map shows higher soil organic carbon across those same pivots once they came into production. The land establishment is visible in both the annual map and the underlying data. For G's Group, this confirms that its capital investment in pivot infrastructure has built the soil's productive capacity.
01
Pivot establishment shows up directly in the soil organic carbon record
Downforce's West Africa Farms record spans January 2017 to December 2025. The 2017 map shows low soil organic carbon across the south-west area, before the pivots were established. The 2025 map shows higher soil organic carbon across those same pivots once they came into production. The land establishment is visible in both the annual map and the underlying data. For G's Group, this confirms that its capital investment in pivot infrastructure has built the soil's productive capacity.
02
The SOC trajectory trends upward against its baseline
The soil organic carbon moving average for West Africa Farms sits above its 2017 baseline across the full record, and the longer-term trend line rises steadily through to 2026. The farm has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year, with the largest single jump recorded between 2018 and 2019. This gives G's Group an evidenced direction of travel for the farm's soil carbon, drawn from nine years of continuous data, and reinforces the soil health and resilience trend already visible across the wider portfolio. A rising soil carbon trend on land that supplies UK and European customers through the winter points to a land asset gaining resilience as the group asks more of it, fills a critical supply gap, contributes to global food security, and engages the local community around it.
02
The SOC trajectory trends upward against its baseline
The soil organic carbon moving average for West Africa Farms sits above its 2017 baseline across the full record, and the longer-term trend line rises steadily through to 2026. The farm has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year, with the largest single jump recorded between 2018 and 2019. This gives G's Group an evidenced direction of travel for the farm's soil carbon, drawn from nine years of continuous data, and reinforces the soil health and resilience trend already visible across the wider portfolio. A rising soil carbon trend on land that supplies UK and European customers through the winter points to a land asset gaining resilience as the group asks more of it, fills a critical supply gap, contributes to global food security, and engages the local community around it.
02
The SOC trajectory trends upward against its baseline
The soil organic carbon moving average for West Africa Farms sits above its 2017 baseline across the full record, and the longer-term trend line rises steadily through to 2026. The farm has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year, with the largest single jump recorded between 2018 and 2019. This gives G's Group an evidenced direction of travel for the farm's soil carbon, drawn from nine years of continuous data, and reinforces the soil health and resilience trend already visible across the wider portfolio. A rising soil carbon trend on land that supplies UK and European customers through the winter points to a land asset gaining resilience as the group asks more of it, fills a critical supply gap, contributes to global food security, and engages the local community around it.
03
Year-to-year variation across pivot segments maps to management decisions
Individual pivot segments show distinct year-to-year changes, so the effect of irrigation and management shows up at the segment level as well as across the whole site. When a segment showed lower carbon values in one year and higher values the next, Downforce and the G's Group team connected that shift to the management differences behind it, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. The team can now direct its limited levers toward the practices that show measurable returns in the soil.
03
Year-to-year variation across pivot segments maps to management decisions
Individual pivot segments show distinct year-to-year changes, so the effect of irrigation and management shows up at the segment level as well as across the whole site. When a segment showed lower carbon values in one year and higher values the next, Downforce and the G's Group team connected that shift to the management differences behind it, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. The team can now direct its limited levers toward the practices that show measurable returns in the soil.
03
Year-to-year variation across pivot segments maps to management decisions
Individual pivot segments show distinct year-to-year changes, so the effect of irrigation and management shows up at the segment level as well as across the whole site. When a segment showed lower carbon values in one year and higher values the next, Downforce and the G's Group team connected that shift to the management differences behind it, which built the group's confidence in what the data represents. The team can now direct its limited levers toward the practices that show measurable returns in the soil.
04
Remote measurement resolves the international logistics constraint
Measuring from a distance removes the group's dependence on physically returning Senegalese soil to the UK, which was the group's central operational frustration. It also cuts the cost and lead time of each measurement cycle, removes sample degradation that weakened earlier data, and lets the group measure consistently as the operation grows.
04
Remote measurement resolves the international logistics constraint
Measuring from a distance removes the group's dependence on physically returning Senegalese soil to the UK, which was the group's central operational frustration. It also cuts the cost and lead time of each measurement cycle, removes sample degradation that weakened earlier data, and lets the group measure consistently as the operation grows.
04
Remote measurement resolves the international logistics constraint
Measuring from a distance removes the group's dependence on physically returning Senegalese soil to the UK, which was the group's central operational frustration. It also cuts the cost and lead time of each measurement cycle, removes sample degradation that weakened earlier data, and lets the group measure consistently as the operation grows.
05
The measurement underpins the environmental side of G's Group's impact story
Alongside the group's own account of social sustainability at the site, which includes more than 2,000 local jobs, land for community farming, a school and a medical centre, Downforce's data provides the environmental evidence base that supports how G's Group describes its impact publicly. G's Group is scaling production significantly to meet growing demand for fresh produce across the UK and Europe, and the soil carbon measurement shows this growth is happening without depleting the land it depends on. The data tracks year-on-year changes in soil organic carbon across the site, giving the group a defensible way to demonstrate that increased output and improved soil health can move in the same direction. Combined with its biodiversity monitoring and community programmes, this evidence shows an operation investing in resilience across land, people and technology, which retailers and investors weigh when they assess the security of their fresh produce supply.
05
The measurement underpins the environmental side of G's Group's impact story
Alongside the group's own account of social sustainability at the site, which includes more than 2,000 local jobs, land for community farming, a school and a medical centre, Downforce's data provides the environmental evidence base that supports how G's Group describes its impact publicly. G's Group is scaling production significantly to meet growing demand for fresh produce across the UK and Europe, and the soil carbon measurement shows this growth is happening without depleting the land it depends on. The data tracks year-on-year changes in soil organic carbon across the site, giving the group a defensible way to demonstrate that increased output and improved soil health can move in the same direction. Combined with its biodiversity monitoring and community programmes, this evidence shows an operation investing in resilience across land, people and technology, which retailers and investors weigh when they assess the security of their fresh produce supply.
05
The measurement underpins the environmental side of G's Group's impact story
Alongside the group's own account of social sustainability at the site, which includes more than 2,000 local jobs, land for community farming, a school and a medical centre, Downforce's data provides the environmental evidence base that supports how G's Group describes its impact publicly. G's Group is scaling production significantly to meet growing demand for fresh produce across the UK and Europe, and the soil carbon measurement shows this growth is happening without depleting the land it depends on. The data tracks year-on-year changes in soil organic carbon across the site, giving the group a defensible way to demonstrate that increased output and improved soil health can move in the same direction. Combined with its biodiversity monitoring and community programmes, this evidence shows an operation investing in resilience across land, people and technology, which retailers and investors weigh when they assess the security of their fresh produce supply.
customer perspective
We want to prove that our farm management practices have a positive impact on the land we operate. Downforce has made it possible for us to demonstrate this, allowing us to turn soil organic carbon and land-condition data into scalable, evidence-based metrics that can support credible environmental reporting across our land-base. Having access to continuous data helps us track changes over time and understand which farming practices deliver positive, measurable outcomes.
Max Fox
Sustainability Reporting Executive, G's Group
customer perspective
We want to prove that our farm management practices have a positive impact on the land we operate. Downforce has made it possible for us to demonstrate this, allowing us to turn soil organic carbon and land-condition data into scalable, evidence-based metrics that can support credible environmental reporting across our land-base. Having access to continuous data helps us track changes over time and understand which farming practices deliver positive, measurable outcomes.
Max Fox
Sustainability Reporting Executive, G's Group
customer perspective
We want to prove that our farm management practices have a positive impact on the land we operate. Downforce has made it possible for us to demonstrate this, allowing us to turn soil organic carbon and land-condition data into scalable, evidence-based metrics that can support credible environmental reporting across our land-base. Having access to continuous data helps us track changes over time and understand which farming practices deliver positive, measurable outcomes.
Max Fox
Sustainability Reporting Executive, G's Group
On-farm outcome
G's Group now runs its Senegal operation with a continuous, remotely measured record of soil organic carbon that shows the land improving as production grows. Across nine years of data, West Africa Farms has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year on 729 hectares of reclaimed desert while supplying spring onions, radish and green beans to UK and European markets through the winter.
On-farm outcome
G's Group now runs its Senegal operation with a continuous, remotely measured record of soil organic carbon that shows the land improving as production grows. Across nine years of data, West Africa Farms has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year on 729 hectares of reclaimed desert while supplying spring onions, radish and green beans to UK and European markets through the winter.
On-farm outcome
G's Group now runs its Senegal operation with a continuous, remotely measured record of soil organic carbon that shows the land improving as production grows. Across nine years of data, West Africa Farms has added an average of +1,344 tCO₂e each year on 729 hectares of reclaimed desert while supplying spring onions, radish and green beans to UK and European markets through the winter.