Bush Lemon Farm

Red Meat Value+d Program 1

5 Sept 2022

About

Juanita and Steele Bosel farm beef, lamb and goats on a property located in the Pioneer Valley west of Mackay, Queensland. Their farming operation known as Bush Lemon Farm follows regenerative agricultural principles and all of their animals are ethically raised, grass fed and pasture raised. The team came into the program seeking support to launch their retail side of the business with new retail ready packs of meat via local farmers markets in addition to their bulk boxed beef business. Bush Lemon Farm will also commence new value-added product trials in early 2023.

Program Journey

Over the course of stage three, Bush Lemon Farm utilised the project management tool developed by Farmers2Founders to help them accelerate their value adding journey. In particular, the business achieved significant progress across several key business milestones including:
• Food Safe QLD application and approval
• Farmers market registration and approvals
• Approval of farmgate sales by council

Similarly, the business has set a clear target to launch their retail ready cuts via farmers markets which they have now successfully achieved with a regular presence at three farmers markets each fortnight. Through this process, the business has set up:
• Trailer sign writing
• Farmers market insurance
• Point of sale systems, pricing strategy, and sales and marketing material
• Introduced food compliant labelling to their retail packs

Bush Lemon Farm has also made contact with a variety of suppliers following their visit to Foodservice including the purchase of equipment and ingredients. The founders also identified their confidence has significantly increased during the program as they have a much more refined plan achieving new revenue, new customers and a new sales channel for their red meat (with all three species selling out). In addition, through the development of local producer partnerships, Bush Lemon Farm lamb was recently featured on a restaurant menu in the region which was achieved within 6 weeks rather than the longer timeframe originally set.

The Value+d program has given us the tools needed to grow as business owners. We have the farming thing down pat but lacked the skills to grow a value-added red meat business. Thank you F2F and STTS for empowering us to make better educated decisions on how to develop our ideas.

What's Next

Over the next 8-12 months, the business has established a clear target to reach retail sales of $7-$8K per fortnight, achieving a 3X value on the live animal and 50% increase in profit. They aim to service between 150-200 consumers per fortnight and secure 2-3 cafes and restaurants. In the new year, F2F will assist Bush Lemon Farm with their proposed development of some ready to heat convenience-based meals such as lamb pepperoni pizza, goat lasagne and other snack type products. The first concepts are forecast to be ready in February 2023 to commence trialling at farmers markets to validate and receive customer feedback. Some key areas the business will prioritise include:

• Commence value adding product development and trials
• Food safety training
• Packaging design and nutritional panels for a tested range of 8-10 value added products using less popular meat cuts
• Secure commercial kitchen
• Investigate additional distribution channels for products and key opportunities to target tourism sector such as the development of the local Mountain bike trial hub in the Pioneer Valley being set up by local council and predicted to bring 30,000+ tourists to area per year
• Partner with other local producers to offer gourmet hampers and ready to heat meals showcasing produce from the region
• Increase stock throughput and set up for on farm production, cold storage, processing and commercial kitchen facilities
• Develop plan to secure outside funding