Formula One driver turned eco-farmer Jody Scheckter is to launch Britain's first line of buffalo burgers in selected Waitrose stores.

Top chefs at Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck helped with the recipe, Scheckter said, and Waitrose has approved the packaging designs.

"We've done all the tasting and we're now talking to Waitrose about promotion," Scheckter told The Grocer. "We'll only be doing buffalo burgers to begin with, but we hope to develop more products soon."

Waitrose stores in London and the south east will begin stocking the product this summer. It will be branded as Laverstoke Park Farm after the 2,500-acre farm in Hampshire where the meat is produced. The animals are killed, cut and packed on site, minimising stress.

The farm is not yet turning a profit, Scheckter admitted, but he hoped working with Waitrose would raise Laverstoke's profile. "We need to make a name for ourselves before we can get the price we want. We want to be at the top of the market."

Scheckter claimed that the buffalo meat was biodynamic and higher quality than organic, although it is not labelled as such. Biodynamic animals are reared on a system that puts emphasis on biodiversity and soil health.

"We can't yet call the meat biodynamic because the buffalo weren't born on the farm," Scheckter said. "However, in the next six months we'll be slaughtering the first fully biodynamic animals."

He is also trying to bring other local farmers into a biodynamic co-operative, called Laverstoke Direct.

Scheckter is best known for his crash-prone Formula One driving in the 1970s. However, he is hoping his farm's meat will establish him as a serious farmer. "People are no longer looking at me as just a dumb race driver," said Scheckter.

Topics