London entrepreneur seeks £350k investment for carbon-negative ‘craft beef’ venture

The founder of a meat wholesaling business in London is launching a new brand aimed at delivering carbon-negative meat to households across the UK.

Farshad Kazemian plans to launch his latest venture, The Ethical Butcher, in the coming months with the help of a six-figure crowdfund.

The £350k campaign, which went live last night (November 14) on Crowdcube, will help Farshad develop what he called an online ‘craft beef’ service, delivering ethical meat boxes to homes nationwide.

The Ethical Butcher will work with the Pasture for Life Association to help put a number of farmers a year through a holistic management course, which will support them in better managing their grasslands to offset carbon emissions with the goal of eventually producing carbon negative meat.

Reports from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization suggest the holistic management method could sequester significant amounts of carbon in soils over time. This has the potential to reverse historical soil carbon losses through increased productivity and rehabilitating degraded grasslands.

According to The Ethical Butcher, each new tonne of soil created through holistic management removes 3.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting climate change by sequestering more greenhouse gases than the livestock produces.

Farshad Kazemian, CEO of The Ethical Butcher, said: “At the Ethical Butcher we’re disrupting the meat market as we know it, giving consumers a unique opportunity to make a positive difference to the planet through their food choices, and their early investment in our vision.

“The crowdfunding campaign will give us the kick start we need to become the number one supplier of ethical meat, so that our valued and respected industry can play its crucial part in combating the effects of climate change.”