Organic beef supply meets limited certified processing space

Over the past 14 years the production of organic beef in Queensland has rapidly increased but certified organic processing has only increased at a slower pace.

Mr Taylor said the processing space for organic beef is very crowded at present and has found delays in booking prime organic cattle into certified processing plants.

“The organic beef market has grown considerably since we started, plus it appears more cattle are being offloaded due to dry conditions, which is the same for the general cattle market,” he said.

“I believe demand for organic beef is remaining steady but it’s a matter of large numbers of producers becoming organically certified and increasing supply.”

The Taylor family have maintained an organic beef price premium between 25 to 30 per cent above the generic market over the last decade, but have found they are now receiving a margin towards the historic lower end around 25 per cent.

“I believe there’s currently an oversupply of organic cattle in Queensland compared to the available processing facilities,” Mr Taylor said.

The latest Australian Organic Market Report shows domestic retail of organic products has risen only slightly over the past year with exported raw produce fueling much of the sectors growth. Organic exports are generally dominated by meat products.

The report also showed almost a third of all Australian certified organic animal-based sector producers were involved in the beef sector.

“As organic producers it should be an ingrained obsession with all of us to keep our production costs down to be highly competitive with the generic beef market,” Mr Taylor said.  

“The marketing end gives us a premium for the effort we put into organics, so I don’t believe because we are growing an organic product we should drive our production costs up to meet the increased price premium.”

The Taylor family run organically certified beef operation across numerous properties in Queensland, including the Augathella area, with Steve and Esmae Taylor now based in the Chinchilla district. They have been organically certified since 2005 and have also obtained United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification for export plus Global Animal Partnership (GAP) accreditation as well.

Mr Taylor  endeavors to specialize in a beef operation that is organically compliant and has a focus on producing 900 day or two-and-half year old prime bullocks or cull heifers, plus breeding bulls to use in their commercial cattle operation and also sell.

“As long as organic beef prices don’t fall from current levels we are reasonably comfortable with maintaining a price premium margin around 25 per cent,” he said.

“There are numerous factors that can influence our organic market but many are the same as Queensland’s generic beef market.”

The Taylor’s currently sell their organic cattle to Arcadian Organic Meats and have previously sold cattle to OBE Organics, Teys and Coles.

“We watch the market options as we go along,” Mr Taylor said.

“Our beef business is focused on continually challenging ourselves to keep cost of production low as possible, but not at the expense of our business, and to use the increased profit margin from organics to reinvest in our business.

“Overall, the organic price premium has been mostly consistent over the past 14 years.  

“I see a real benefit in being audited and organically certified because it brings credibility to our beef business by consistently meeting those standards.”