British farmers no longer believe there is “honour and profit” in agriculture, the boss of one of Britain’s most celebrated steakhouses has warned.
Will Beckett, co-founder of Hawksmoor, said the UK faces a “massive problem” because too many farmers are dropping out of the industry.
Mr Beckett said: “I think it’s right to say that Britain has a farming problem. If there is no honour and profit in farming – by the way, that’s not true – if farmers feel [they] can’t make money, or it’s not worth it, it’s not enjoyable, we’ve got a massive problem.”
His comments come after years of discontent among farmers, who have been forced to contend with post-Brexit Labour shortages, EU red tape and soaring fertiliser and energy costs after the invasion of Ukraine. There have also been accusations that major supermarket chains have squeezed profit margins in the industry to unsustainable levels.
The National Farmers Unions and other industry groups wrote to all party leaders ahead of last month’s election urging them to come up with a plan for food security, warning: “It would be foolhardy to assume that our food system will always withstand shocks.”
Mr Beckett said: “We’re not close to self-sustaining on food. We import a huge amount. I think it’s still a government priority to increase our self-sufficiency in food – for that to happen, farming has to work. And there are clearly areas of farming where that is not true.”
Hawksmoor runs 13 restaurants across the UK, Dublin, New York, and Chicago, and all of the steak sold in the UK is sourced from Britain. It is consistently ranked among the world’s best steakhouses.
Mr Beckett added: “There are a lot of farmers, like many of ours, who are just trying to find different routes to market because they know they will get paid a proper price for their produce.”
He added that a recent vogue for going vegan was largely just “hype” and “noise”, adding that some of the practices involved could be damaging for agriculture.
Mr Beckett said: “It engenders or encourages a monocrop attitude to land husbandry that I don’t think is particularly healthy.
“[Farmers] don’t just think about cows, they’ll put money into building reservoirs that attract insects so that more birds come. If you’re doing soybean monocrops, guess what? The land’s not great, the wildlife and insect life just disappears, and soil health goes down.”
Hawksmoor is currently considering a potential sale that would see it fetch a price as high as £100m, according to reports. A document sent to potential investors, seen by The Telegraph, said its yearly turnover now tops £100m. The chain is currently majority-owned by the private equity house Graphite.
Mr Beckett – the son of prominent wine journalist Fiona Beckett – and his business partner Huw Gott founded the chain in 2006. Both founders are set to retain their shareholding and continue leading the company if Hawksmoor changes hands, it has been reported.
Hawksmoor is one of a handful of restaurants credited with driving a revival of the traditional steakhouse in Britain over recent decades.
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