RABDF award for Beckett

John Beckett has been presented with the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers’ Princess Royal Award by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace, for his outstanding services to the industry.

Beckett, who is currently a partner in his family’s Shropshire based farm and chairman of its farmhouse cheese making business, Belton Cheese, has spent his career spanning more than 50 years dedicated to agri-business. Despite his early reluctance to becoming a dairy farmer, he studied agriculture, eventually inherited Belton Farm, and developed the premium cheese-making business from processing an annual one million litres in 1970 to today’s operation with more than 70 million litres supplied annually from over 80 local farmers. Belton cheese is retailed throughout the UK and to a growing export market.

He has also been involved in business outside the family operation, most notably as the inaugural chairman of Genus PLC. Over his 10 year tenure he transformed a small UK cattle breeding and consultancy company worth £30m (€36.9m) and operating in a diminishing marketplace to a global multi species genetics and biotechnology firm worth £800m. He cites one of his biggest achievements in the early days of his Genus chairmanship was recruiting ‘the best’ chief executive. Sadly, he says recruiting directors within the sector presents a huge challenge.

The UK farming industry is scientifically and technically excellent, however it lacks the culture, instinct and understanding for business management, particularly in the dairy sector where it has experienced too many disasters,” he says. “We are now operating in a high risk global food and energy marketplace where strong business leadership is high priority if the dairy industry is to compete internationally with blue chip companies and large scale co-operatives.”

Beckett founded a charitable organisation in 2005 awarding an Agri-Farm Scholarship MBA for graduate young farmers and agricultural students delivered by Cranfield University School of Management. “I’m very pleased the UK is now in a position to be able to offer such an elite course designed to train future British farm business and industry leaders.”

RABDF chairman David Cotton comments: “John Beckett has made a huge contribution to the industry and his extensive knowledge, wisdom and advice have helped to shape many of today’s agri-businesses. There have been many changes to the dairy industry in the last 20 years and John has been in the thick of it. His contribution to British dairy farming has been immense. I am delighted that he has won this award.”