The 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:
- Uses and exploitation of camellia (studied in 2001)
- World agricultural policies and their effect on UK farming (studied in 2003)
- Social media and the opportunities it can bring to farmers (studied in 2007 when social media was in its infancy)
- The sustainability of current UK arable farming practice (studied in 2011)
- The next step for the small family farm (studied in 2013)
They come from all parts of Great Britain and their enterprises, careers and influence are constantly developing.
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.
Scholars Sponsored
Only most recent are listed.
- 2025
Tom McVeigh
Born and raised in Suffolk, I am the thirteenth generation farmer in my family. I left the farm seeing very little to improve on or to be excited by. In the past few years it feels like our industry...
- 2024
David Tavenor
I grew up on a dairy farm in Shropshire and studied agribusiness management at Newcastle University. After 6 years of being a supermarket buyer, I became disillusioned and returned back to the family...
- 2023
Luke Breedon
Although not from a farming background I have always been drawn towards agriculture and have found myself working on fruit farms, cattle stations and for corporate arable businesses here in the UK...
- 2022
James Pick
I am a third generation farmer from coastal North Yorkshire growing a diverse range of cash crops, specialising in potatoes. In the time I have been working on the family farm - 2021
Emily Aitchison
I grew up on a mixed arable and livestock farm in Mid-Suffolk. As a family we have been farming continuously since 1640 and I am proud of my farming heritage. At the age of 21, I set up three...
- 2018
Martin Gott
My partner Nicola and I signed a Farm business tenancy at Holker Farm in 2006 where we established a flock of milking sheep and began making artisan cheese with their milk. Previously I worked alongside two other cheesemakers both making with artisan cheese with raw milk, one with goats in Somerset and one making traditional Lancashire cheese near Preston. - 2017
David Hichens
Growing up on the family dairy farm on the North coast of West Cornwall between Lands’ End and St Ives was where I caught the farming bug at a young age. During holiday periods throughout my education...
“It is essential for the whole nation that our countryside and those who work in it should prosper; be diverse; and environmentally aware. A Nuffield Farming Scholar should be carefully selected to promote and disseminate such values. It is their contribution after the study tour that counts.”