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Unlikely bedfellows: Sir Ken Morrison and Johnny Rotten
Sir Ken Morrison is eyeing his latest challenge as president of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. He tells Mark Casci why Johnny Rotten has the right idea about British produce.
DURING his distinguished and eventful career, Sir Ken Morrison built a small-scale handful of shops on the back streets of Bradford into one of the country's biggest retail outlets.
By the time he stepped down last year after half-a-century at the helm, his no-nonsense approach had transformed Morrisons into a brand happily challenging the likes of Tesco and Asda, and his family fortune was estimated at 1.6bn.
Sir Ken remains the company's chairman, but now in semi-retirement he's concentrating much of his efforts on his 1,000 acres of farmland at Myton-on-Swale in North Yorkshire, where he keeps sheep, wheat, barley and cattle.
Earlier this month the Yorkshire Post revealed that Sir Ken, now 77, had been named president of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which runs the Great Yorkshire Show, for the year of 2010. Given his current occupation and his standing within the county, the appointment seemed to make sense.
He's been a regular entrant in the event and in 2007 he won the lamb carcass class, but, with the same humility with which he ran Morrisons, he plays down his agricultural expertise and insists he was flattered to be asked.
"I am not an expert in agriculture by any manner of means, " he says. "I spent my career in the food industry so I have in the course of my career met a lot of farmers, talked to them and done a lot of business with them. In an amateur way, I do understand some of the problems they face, but I am learning."
While relatively new to farming he has been quick to pick up the lingo. Ask any farmer how things are going, and the response is almost always non-committal.
Ask Sir Ken how life is treating him and the answer is a vague "not bad".
"As a farmer you never say anything is going well. Things are going pretty well, but nothing exciting, " he says. "I bought another farm to add to what we already have, which allows us to specialise in livestock."
During his career in the competitive supermarket sector, Sir Ken learnt that in business it's often a case of adapt or die. He may not be planning any revolution for next year's Great Yorkshire Show, but he also knows that it has to move with the times.
"I have been a supporter of the Great Yorkshire Show for many years, " he says, speaking from his North Yorkshire home. "I used to take my kids to the show and it's changed a great deal. It's no longer a purely agricultural event, but now it is about how it goes forward.
"Farming is changing and the show has a great chance now that the Royal Show has gone to establish itself as the premier agricultural show in the country. Geographically, it is fairly central for the whole of the country, which bodes well.
"At my age, tradition is always going to be very valuable. Once it's gone, it is very difficult to replace, but the thing is to maintain interest and keep a freshness that attracts the public and the farming community. It can't be exclusive. It is for everyone."
Having experience of both the food retail and farming industries, two sectors which have often found themselves on opposing sides of a battleline, Sir Ken is in a unique position to view both sides of the many arguments.
Supermarkets are often portrayed as being British farming's number one enemy, but he says such black and white conclusions are unhelpful and naive.
"In my previous career, we had growers and producers that we dealt with for many many years, " he says. "If a business is to be successful, generally you need good, loyal customers, excellent knowledge, able staff and you need good suppliers. It's a bit of an illusion to think that supermarkets send suppliers away."
Despite the growing number of consumers apparently wanting to buy British, Sir Ken has enough experience to have seen a hundred fads come and go, and he remains cautious about what he fears could ultimately be a short- term trend.
"People want good products and good prices, " he says. "It is a global market now, isn't it?
"It's in everyone's interests to get welfare standards as high as we can, but I am not sure, consumers are necessarily aware of the different standards of production.
"What I do know is that a good product will sell."
When asked about prospects for British farmers, Sir Ken's business brain kicks in. The way he sees it, relying on historic markets is no good.
"Traditionally, English agriculture has always sold to the domestic market, I'm not sure it really looks to export markets in the way other countries do Places like Holland and Denmark thrive on export whereas we don't.
"It is very easy now. Such is the efficiency of the transport network, you can have something leave Holland at 3pm and it can be in the shops in the morning.
"Many years ago farmers used to grow things and only then would they try to sell them. That's not the case any more, you have to have a market already lined up.
"The best thing we are good it is growing grass, which means that beef is good, pork is good and lamb is good, but climatically we are disadvantaged in this country in many ways.
"Anything that requires a good long hot summer and a dry autumn for harvest is going to struggle. August is a notoriously bad month for weather, which means you have to rely on an Indian summer."
The quiet life of Myton-on-Swale may be a far cry from the board rooms of Morrisons, but his new role is not a complete departure from his old life.
"There are similarities, " he says. "You have to establish relationships with the people you deal with and you need to make sure things are fair.
"It is proving an interesting experience, but I am not coming in with any great ideas to revolutionise anything."
As I get up to leave, the conversation turns once again to prospects for British farmers and Sir Ken offers an entirely unexpected anecdote.
"There is a great advert on at the moment for butter with a chap out of a pop group – what's his name?"
"Johnny Rotten" I venture, "the guy out of the Sex Pistols?"
"That's it, you've got it, " he replies. "The message is, 'It's not about Great Britain, it's about Great Butter.' That is the key really. People are more interested in whether it is good quality."
Johnny Rotten, the face of the 2010 Great Yorkshire Show? Perhaps not, but as he's proved time and again, Sir Ken is a man full of surprises.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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