‘Taupo Beef’: The ‘Why’, the ‘How’ and the ‘Now’ July 2025
In their own words: ‘Taupo Beef Ltd’ started life in 2010 as an attempt to reward famers in the ‘Lake Taupo Catchment’ for their commitment to preserving the lake’s water quality for multiple future generations.
The previous ten years of difficult negotiation, science driven farming practices and sound policy implementation lead to farmers accepting a cap on Nitrogen levels entering the Lake in perpetuity. Essentially, Taupo farmers were accepting a cap on livestock numbers for the life of their farm.
The goal of Taupo Beef Ltd was to share the cost of protecting Lake Taupo with consumers, contributing a premium that was returned to Taupo farmers. In order for those consumers to feel confident that the premium they were paying was justified, Taupo Beef Ltd needed to provide independent / auditable evidence that farmers were doing what was required of them.
Waikato Regional Council (WRC) audited farmers against the strictest farming conditions in Aotearoa/New Zealand on an annual basis. This provided the evidence to back up the Environment Tick that became a hallmark of ‘Taupo Beef’. The first and only meat brand in the country to receive such a tick. We are extremely grateful to WRC for their ongoing support.
The early science by AgResearch Ltd and Landcare Research Ltd into farming practices that minimise harm to the environment, continues to this day and provides consumers with confidence that Taupo farmers are incorporating best practice into their businesses.
‘Taupo Beef’ first went to market with four restaurants in Taupo, to test the assumption that consumers would pay a premium for meat grown in a way that protected Lake Taupo and was of high quality.
The early trials gave us the confidence to further develop the concept. We knew that to truly test consumers’ willingness to pay for environmental best practice, we had to expand beyond the Taupo district. To cover the whole country and to develop an export market required scale and achieving a premium over the whole carcass. To that end, we were very fortunate to partner with Neat Meat Ltd.
We reached a high point in 2015 when we won the Sustainable Business Network’s supreme award for the “business making the greatest contribution to a sustainable NZ”.
We were successfully exporting to a chain of boutique supermarkets in Japan and we had achieved significant scale with a large number of Taupo Farmers confidently supplying the brand. A key factor in our success was the relationship we had established with consumers - they were truly willing to share the cost of protecting the lake with farmers. It was a time of nationwide economic success and consumers had the discretionary income to pay a premium,
This successful period continued until the Covid pandemic. Due to supply chain tensions worldwide, we were unable to continue to supply our Japanese customers and all the restaurants serving our beef were shut. In the language of the day, we “pivoted” and began supplying ‘My Food Bag’ and other meal delivery providers plus Supermarkets.
The current market for beef is unusual to say the least.
1, The ‘cost of living’ crisis means consumers have less discretionary income and they are more ‘price’ conscious. Many are less inclined to pay a premium for environmental good.
2. The spot market schedule for beef is normally at a seasonal low late summer and through autumn. This year, because of reduced cattle numbers nationwide, we are seeing record prices paid to farmers. These prices are in excess of any premium ‘Taupo Beef’ could offer farmers.
3. Supermarkets / Processors are investing heavily in the development of their own brands in order to control the narrative in the supply chain.
4. Restaurants are open for business again but are extremely ‘cost conscious’ post Covid.
We can no longer achieve the original rationale for the establishment of Taupo Beef Ltd - that is, to reward Taupo farmers for their commitment to environmental best practice and pay them a premium.
For that reason, we have reluctantly taken the decision to cease trading and to disestablish Taupo Beef Ltd.