A READING-based farmer has been helping shake up the supply chain, helping the climate emergency and British agriculture at the same time.
Three years in the making, Honest Burgers, which has a branch in Reading’s town centre, has announced it is switching to regenerative farming methods.
From this week, six of its restaurants have switched to serving beef from regenerative farms such as the one managed by Farmer Ed.
And by 2024, all of its sites will be taking part in the scheme, which aims to have the least amount of impact on the soil and environment as possible – mimicking what would occur in the wild, and restoring the land to full health and productivity.
Honest Burgers says it goes beyond sustainable farming, which just aims to maintain the level of already depleted land: regenerative farming is cumulatively restorative.
This means reducing the need for diesel-chugging machinery and artificial fertilisers, improving biodiversity and allowing cows to roam with their hooves gently disturbing the soil without intensive ploughing – a process known as mob grazing – which stores carbon.
Honest Burgers is working directly with British regenerative farmers, which they say helps the firm to reconnect to the food supply chain; working to long-term, attainable goals and orders, securing incomes, and paying fairly for their beef.
By improving the soil’s fertility this move supports farmers’ efforts to build a more sustainable future in the industry.
Offering an accountable supply chain, means it can monitor regenerative processes at the farms and reduce its carbon footprint.
Around 70% of the cow is used to make Honest’s burger patties at its butchery, and the cuts reserved for premium steaks – which constitute approximately 20% of the cow – are then sold to partners Turner and George and The Ethical Butcher.
Honest is the first in the UK of this scale to rework its supply chain in this way.
The firm says it has aken three years to get to this point, and has been spearheaded by its co-found, Tom Barton, who worked with Grassroots Farming to source the farmers.
“We wanted to tackle our impact on the planet head on – for us that meant the elephant in the room, which is our beef,” he said.
“We’re buying the whole cow direct from our farmers which means we can influence how they farm and pay them a fair price.
Farmers are now an integral part of our team – as they always should have been.”
He added hat by improving the supply chain, and incentivising the right outputs it will be boost soil health, biodiversity and animal welfare.
“It’d be a lot easier to just offset our carbon and be ‘carbon neutral’ as a lot of businesses have done – and I understand why as this is a really challenging problem – but we don’t think that’s the answer, it just shifts the problem elsewhere and kicks the can down the road,” Mr Barton said.
“Industrialised farming, with its dependency on carbon-heavy machinery, pesticides and artificial fertilisers, is the issue.
“We’re changing every step of how our burgers get to your plate and it starts in the fields.
“I couldn’t be more proud that we’re taking this step, this is ‘field to plate’ in action, and this is only the beginning.”
The regenerative beef is available from Brixton, Peckham, Clapham, Oxford Circus, Soho, and Tooting branches at the momen with more to follow.
