Conscious Valley has collected numerous accolades this week, most recently taking out the PGG Wrightson Market Leader Award at the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Awards. Hamish Best, co-founder of Conscious Valley, says this achievement is extra special for them.

“It’s one thing to win the food producer award for the meat category on Tuesday night up in Auckland, but I think the recognition from your peers is just a little bit more,” Best says.

“We all perform in different markets, we all have our own relationships with different restaurants or supermarkets, and we’re all trying to add value to our red meat brand and to our meat.

“I see us all as like a network of colleagues rather than competition.”

The award judges said Conscious Valley has done a great job at asking their customers what they want and adjusting their products to suit.

“While operating at the premium end of the market, Conscious Valley was making effective use of all cuts and continuing to grow and adapt their product range,” they said.

Best’s 450ha (350ha effective) farm runs on steep Cook Strait hill country. Beef goes direct-to-market, with demand running ahead of on-farm supply. Roughly 1,000 lambs will go through Wellington this year, about 70% of production, with a target of 90% meeting a high eating quality specification.

“It all starts from your breeding, then the biggest secret is selecting the right animals to go through into Wellington… we’re sort of aiming to get 90% of our lambs in that high eating quality spec,” Best says.

Animals that fall short of the required fat cover go through conventional export channels. The business supplies 15 restaurants in Wellington alongside a farmers market operation, with roughly 80% of farmers market customers repeat buyers.

“I learned very early on in my sales career that if you win someone on price, you’ll probably lose them on price as well.

“If you can build a story or value behind your product, you’re more likely to retain them.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.