16 March 2000 'Rossendale Factor' Focus of Field Day

The recipe for winning ways in niche farming, agribusiness and rural entrepreneurship will be revealed at a field day on the Halswell, Christchurch, property of Brent and Shirley Rawstron, holders of the prestigious Lincoln University Foundation Rabobank Farmer of the Year title.

The public field day is on Thursday 30 March on the Rawstron's 130-hectare Rossendale property and it will be sign-posted from Rossendale Wines at 150 Old Tai Tapu Road, Halswell. It starts at 1.00pm and car parking is available.

A field day on the property of each year's Farmer of the Year winner is an important ingredient of the Farmer of the Year enterprise, says Lincoln University Foundation chairman John Nimmo.

"We see the annual Farmer of the Year Award as not only a way of acknowledging outstanding farmers, but as an educational activity as well. At the public presentation session leading up to the announcement of the winner and at the subsequent field day on the winner's property, there is much that can be learnt about the ingredients that go into successful farming.

"The transfer of knowledge and experience is a big part of what the competition is all about," he says.

The category for the latest competition, the 17th year the event has been held, was Excellence in Innovation, defined as the development and/or implementation of a new production process or management technique/programme, or a new selling/marketing approach, or a combination of these.

The aim was to highlight farmers who had recognised opportunities to break free from traditional methods of commodity production by responding positively to changing market demands and circumstances.

That is precisely what the Rawstrons have done over the past 10 years.

"For a decade we have been involved in major innovative developments that have transformed us from a commodity producer of peas, beans, wheat, barley and other lines to a business that only produces products and services that meet or exceed the expectations of target markets," says Brent.

"Unless we have a target market and an understanding of that market's requirements we will not produce a product.

"We have developed a variety of innovative marketing initiatives covering several areas of activity, notably beef production; winemaking; lamb finishing; co-operative wine marketing; and hospitality."

Aspects of these will be presented and discussed at the field day, with those attending moving progressively around the units which make up the Rossendale operation.

First up after introductions and an outline of Rossendale's production philosophy will be the farm, with discussions on the grass and feed systems and the beef and sheep.

Then everyone will move to the vineyard/winery to observe and talk about the grape-growing and winemaking operation and also to see the jointly owned (with Sherwood Estate Wines) bottling line.

After the vineyard/winery session the participants will return to the assembly point for a discussion on Rossendale's marketing philosophy

Then the field day will focus on the hospitality side of the Rossendale enterprise, looking at the Rossendale Restaurant, the Lansdowne Homestead and Gardens.

The Rawstrons' beef operation is regarded as an object lesson in closely targeted marketing linked to premium earnings.

"Our objective was to supply beef raised on our farm to an export market that not only appreciated quality but was also prepared to pay a premium for that product," says Brent.

The target market was exclusive German delicatessen Alois Dallmayr of Munich, and Rossendale was able to offer several clear differentiations separating its beef from beef raised in any other country. The differentiations were – complete trace-ability of product from production to plate (a concept developed by the Rawstrons almost 10 years before it became the catch-cry of the New Zealand meat industry), and a guarantee that the product was not only hormone free but had been produced with strict adherence to the requirements of all other farming chemicals and remedies.

Getting the enterprise off the ground was however no simple matter and the Rawstrons faced negativity from the Meat Board and difficulty with local processing companies. But they persevered and their success with this exclusive market is regarded as one of the most innovative marketing endeavours that has been developed by a single farmer. And now they're looking at producing specialist lamb as well for Dallmayr's.

Based on finishing lambs off a top outstandingly managed farm and adding the ‘Rossendale factor’, the venture had advanced to the stage of sending samples to Dallmayr's around the time of the Farmer of the Year competition.

"We believe that what differentiates Rossendale from other agribusiness operations is our innovative use of the market to determine what and how we produce," says Brent.

Through the Lincoln University Foundation field day John Nimmo hopes that some of that ‘Rossendale factor’ will rub off on to other farming and agribusiness enterprises in the South Island.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand