The premium obtained for organic beef appears to be alluring for Australia’s largest family-run beef business.
Stanbroke is now forging further into organic red meat with the direct procurement and weekly processing of organic cattle at its Grantham facility in southern Queensland.
The move will be an expansion of the company’s existing Diamantina Organic and Flinders Natural beef brands.
Stanbroke’s managing director Brendan Menegazzo said the company plans to tap into a complete range of high-end beef markets including Wagyu, Angus, grainfed and organic.
“Organic is a high value market and Australia is well positioned to produce a substantial amount of the world’s organic beef,” Mr Menegazzo said.
“Stanbroke’s vertically-integrated operations and experience in processing organic beef positions us strongly to tap further into this market.”
According to Stanbroke’s livestock manager Richard Sheriff, Stanbroke is expanding its organic beef buying program to capitalise on the company’s six years of organic beef processing experience.
“We are looking for supply lines with organic cattle producers who want to be part of an Australian family-owned beef business that supplies local and world markets,” Mr Sheriff said.
“An open cattle pricing grid will be used to purchase organic cattle from producers with Stanbroke targeting specific weights,” he said.
“The 240kg to 320kg dressed weight is the premium organic price with five plus millimetres of fat, up to and including six teeth, for both male and female cattle.”
Stanbroke is currently offering around $6.30/kg to $6.65/kg carcase weight for a standard organically certified bullock.
“We have already started purchasing cattle from organic-certified livestock producers as part of increasing our focus in this market,” Mr Sheriff said.
“It’s a $1-a-kilogram premium on average over our standard steer price and 50-60c/kg premium over non-organic grassfed steers.
“We are prepared to work with the right cattle producers with the right organic article, rather than just focus on open grid purchasing.
“We have a senior Queensland cattle buyer, Russell Handley, who is well respected in the Australian cattle industry and we have strong, long-term contacts through the western and central part of the state.
“This will enable us to grow our producer links into the organic field and foster mutually-beneficial relationships.”
The beef company hopes to supply markets in the United States, south-east Asia and Australia.
“A high percentage of our organic beef will go into the US market and then we will try to build-up our market share domestically and in south-east Asia,” Mr Sheriff said.
“Stanbroke is first targeting the US due to its large organic beef market, and then we plan to increase our organic footprint domestically in Australia, plus in Asia.”
The market-driven move into organic beef is strategic for Stanbroke, which has mainly concentrated on grainfed cattle in recent times.
“We have focused on grainfed cattle over the last ten years and more recently moved into processing organic beef,” Mr Sheriff said.
“Stanbroke’s confidence in the increasing market demand for organic beef will see us bolster our resources to increase our market share with Stanbroke branded organic, hormone-free beef products,” Mr Sheriff said.
“This is about Stanbroke having a point of difference in our business.
“It’s going to take time, but we are committed to forging a strong organic brand in the global market, so that’s what we are doing.”
