near me

or

browse

Honest Farming

Tom, Phil and the farmers Tom, Phil and the farmers

July 19, 2024

EVERY HONEST BURGER YOU BUY PUTS MORE REGENERATIVE BEEF BACK IN OUR FIELDS

With a name like Honest we’ve got a lot to live up to. It hasn’t escaped us that there has been a growing focus on the environmental impact of beef. We could be carbon offsetting to make us feel better, but that felt like kicking the can down the road.

Since 2022 we have been directly supporting regenerative farmers. It’s a more progressive approach to farming that’s focused on working with nature instead of against it, helping to regenerate biodiversity and boost soil health. Better soil health equals more CO2 being locked in.

THE USUAL WAY

Industrial farming relies on fossil fuels for fertilisers, machinery, pesticides, animal feed…

As a farm’s carbon footprint grows, the soil’s worked so hard it’s exhausted. It’s ploughed and fertilised and ploughed again until it’s got nothing to give – to the plants that grow on it, to the animals that eat those plants, and, ultimately to the meat we eat. It’s all empty.

This way of farming is so far from sustainable, it’s actually making things worse.

THE BETTER WAY

Regenerative farming is about going back to how farming used to be.

It means following nature’s lead carefully managing where animals graze, so fields have time to rest and nature can take over.

It means looking after the soil, so it’s home to all kinds of insects, bacteria and fungi – and full of nutrients.

It’s a focus on quality, not quantity, and following the seasons, not a spreadsheet.

TODAY

Now we’re doing more to live up to our name.

Honest Burgers is a founding member of a community of businesses set up by our partners, Grassroots, to bring their combined purchasing power together to support system change amongst farmers.

We’re supporting 6 farming families by paying a premium for every kilo of beef we purchase, which is paid to farmers to support and reward their regenerative farming practices, and to increase the amount of regenerative farmed beef in the supply chain.

TOMORROW

But what does in mean in cold, hard numbers?

We’re working on it. We don’t know the exact rate at which soil stores carbon, but our farmers are tracking it and we already know that regenerative beef is producing 50% less carbon per kg of beef than standard UK beef.

In an ideal world, none of this would be remarkable. It’d just be the way farming and restaurants worked. That’s a long way off, but we’re showing other restaurants it’s possible. For now, we’re one of the first. We want to be the first of many.

More news