Alan and Anne Beckett Award

The Alan and Anne Beckett Award, which has been running since 1996, is for an entrepreneur or innovator who is a hands-on operator in the agricultural, horticultural or allied rural industries. With such a wide remit it is not surprising that Beckett Scholars have studied subjects as varied as:

• Growing Tea in the UK
• The Decline of the Honey Bee
• The Effect of Social Media
• Modernising the Game Rearing Industry

They come from all parts of Great Britain and may be found in habitats as varied as a leading Organic Farmers’ Cooperative, Tesco’s Head Buying Office, selling Welsh meat in Singapore – and sitting in the Chair of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust itself.

Alan gained his Award in 1957. It was to study dairying but he famously returned home and sold the cows in favour of a venture into the newly developing intensive egg production industry. Anne was created an Hon. Scholar in 2007 and says her Award was a tribute to the contribution made by Nuffield partners everywhere. Both Alan and Anne consider that sponsoring their growing “family” is the best thing they’ve ever jointly done.