FARM-ULA ONE
I was an F1 world champion but now I make ice cream on my 2,500-acre Hampshire farm
A FORMER Formula One world champion is now enjoying huge success running an organic farm that specialises in producing buffalo mozzarella and ice cream.
This 73-year-old raced in F1 from 1972 to 1980 and won the Drivers' Championship in 1979 with Ferrari.
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And he still holds a place in the history books as the only South African ever to be crowned F1 king.
He competed for the likes of McLaren, Tyrell and Wolf before ending his career at Ferrari and won ten Grands Prix and enjoyed a total of 33 podium finishes prior to retirement in 1980.
The icon went on to work for several broadcasters covering the sport but is now setting the pace in a completely different type of way.
The man in question is Jody Scheckter - the last man to win a championship for Ferrari until the legendary Michael Schumacher ended a 21-year wait in 2000.
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He originally moved to America following his racing career and started up a firearms company for the police and military.
Then he decided to relocate to Hampshire in England and bought 500 acres of land.
Scheckter intended to build a farm to produce organic, healthy food for his family but soon realised too much meat would be going to waste.
That led to him purchasing the nearby Laverstoke Park Farm, which is spread across 2,500 acres of land, and now it is widely-known across the UK.
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It annually hosts the CarFest South, a three-day festival that features music and motorcars and other activities to raise cash for BBC Children in Need and other children’s charities and is attended by more than 28,000 people.
And it is also the base for hit ITV show Sugar Free Farm.
Scheckter built a charcuterie factory and an abattoir slaughterhouse on it and now makes mozzarella and ice cream.
He told : “I have always felt organic is the best way to ensure that – and I still believe that now.
“We decided to cut down on a lot of our products that were not making money.
“At one point we had over 120 products in the online supermarket Ocado because we were producing a lot in the abattoir, but it was crazy.
“So now we’re concentrating on our buffalo mozzarella and ice cream.
“Pret a Manger has been our biggest customer and, alongside Ocado, we’re now in Waitrose and many restaurants.”
Scheckter pumped his own money into the farm for over 12 years but eventually realised the business had to stand on its own feet.
Laverstoke now has around 1,000 ewes, 25 rams and is expected to have over 1,500 lambs after the spring.
It also has around 23 native Angus cows, an Angus bull and 450 water buffaloes.
Scheckter added: “Now we are a normal farm and it is now making a profit, because it is running as a farm instead of producing for the factories.
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“It has taken a massive amount of money over the years. I didn’t want for it to be a failure and if I had closed it 10 years ago, that’s what it would’ve been.
“But last year was the first year I didn’t put money in and we are making a little profit now.”
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