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Couple
Seek to Make Business Brand a Household Name
Published in Country-Wide August 2005 (Southern) and September
(Northern) editions.
Allan Richardson is a man with a mission
Along with his wife Sonia the Otago farmer is determined to make his
Avalon brand a household name.
The brand runs across the couples three businesses, these being their
organic farming system, their sheep and beef produce marketing business
and their sheep genetics enterprise based on multi disease resistance.
To Allan the brand is everything, because, he says that’s what creates
the value.
He sees the establishment of their brand as a vital part of stepping
away from a commodity market to selling branded, valued added products
on fixed contracts.
“The ultimate is to have a brand worth more than our farm.”
While the name Avalon has a sentimental connection, it was the name of
Allan’s father’s first farm, the name was subjected to market research
to ensure it met the criteria of being easy to sight and easy to
remember before it was finally adopted as the Richardson’s brand.
Listening to Allan Richardson it is easy to believe everything is well
thought out.
Certainly his venturing into organic farming was the result of a
research project carried out while on a Kellogg Rural Leadership course.
Through his project he realised the potential for organic produce and
this was only reiterated when Allan and Sonia travelled to Europe to
research organic marketing as part of his Nuffield scholarship.
Returning home, the couple were determined to break the mould and the
stereotype of an organic farmer by running a successful, commercial
organic sheep operation.
Today their 1300ha farm near Heriot, consists of 300ha organic block,
while the balance id being conventionally farmed.
Looking at the Richardson’s business, Allan and Sonia have their goals
neatly listed in what they describe as three horizons.
The first horizon is what Allan describes as their current goals in
their core business areas. These goals include improving their
per hectare performance over their whole farm and increasing the area
farmed organically to 500ha. Two hundred hectares are now in the
process of being converted.
The couple are also aiming to expand their genetic business to sell
rams throughout New Zealand, develop their organic brand and receive a
premium for their organic meat products.
The second horizon goals include increasing the total area farmed and
building supply chain relationships with key producers and suppliers in
this country.
Allan and Sonia want to market their genetics overseas, as part of a
strategic plan to sell genetics internationally through joint venture.
Further development of the Avalon group website and development of the
Avalon shop website are also included in the horizon two goals.
At this point in their business, the Richardson’s have been marketing
and selling their own brand organic food to local restaurants and via
the internet. They are now supplying meat to the exclusive
Millbrook resort in Queenstown.
Allan says that because they haven’t got large quantities of organic
meat available they are deliberately targeting the top end of the ma
One of the challenges facing the couple is to add value to the lower
value cuts of meat as the high value cuts constitute only 9% of the
carcass.
Horizon three goals are the Richardson’s big picture goals. These
include supply chain relationships with overseas producers, processors,
and retailers.
They also want to be key suppliers of worm resistant genetics in New
Zealand and overseas.
Allan sees drench resistance as a huge issue.
After 17 years of breeding for worm resistance the Richardson’s sheep
receive only one drench in their lifetime without any compromise in
long-term production.
Allan says in selecting for worm resistance they have found their sheep
to be multiple-disease resistant, resistant to diseases such as facial
eczema and grass staggers with some resistance to external parasites.
“These sheep will be locked into our brand.”
“There is no point in getting the genetics when you can’t get the
long-term benefit from it.”
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