Looking back on a year of an award-winning business – Royalburn Station
Nadia and Carlos with Deputy Director-General Vincent Arbuckle.
New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) is a proud sponsor of the New Zealand Food Awards, owned and operated by Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University. NZFS and the Awards both support and promote the value of a strong food safety culture maintained at every point of the supply chain.
NZFS Deputy Director-General Vincent Arbuckle recently visited the team at Royalburn Station, who won the 2023 Primary Sector Award, sponsored by NZFS.
Recognised as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest farms, Royalburn Station’s heritage is steeped in sheep farming and grain, growing wheat and barley for the gold miners’ and early settlers’ essentials of bread and beer in central Otago. Since taking on Royalburn Station in 2019, co-founders of My Food Bag Carlos Bagrie and Nadia Lim now produce everything from pastured-raised eggs, organic vegetables and honey to regeneratively raised lamb, on the 1200 acres.
Nadia Lim, who once sat on the judging panel for the Awards, was ecstatic to have won an award as she knows they provide creditability and recognition.
"Winning at the New Zealand Food Awards has cemented our belief that Royalburn Station produces the highest-quality, most delicious lamb straight from our farm, and it's great that we can now say to the rest of the country that our lamb is award winning!"
Receiving the Primary Sector Award for their Royalburn Fine Lamb in 2023 is testament to what can be achieved when your vision focuses on finding more sustainable and circular solutions to help the land, animals and food sources thrive. This shone through to the NZFS judging panel, who were impressed by the farm’s vision and commitment to an integrated and sustainable approach and the tender, succulent lamb they produced.
The Primary Sector Award recognises researchers and manufacturers who add value to primary products through the introduction of new varieties, cultivars or breeds; or through new or alternative harvesting, processing or packaging to extract or create new or innovative primary sector products.
Royalburn covers 1,200 acres, positioned on the flat to rolling area known as the Crown Terrace on the Crown Range Road that winds between Arrowtown and Wanaka.
Royalburn Station championed a ‘farm-to-plate’ model, directly connecting the farmer to the consumer by establishing their own on-farm abattoir and butchery, packaging and distributing their product from the farm.
“We wanted to champion a true ‘farm-to-plate model, instead of being part of the standard commodity-driven model with no direct connection or traceability. On top of that we wanted to champion the highest animal ethics and welfare standards possible, which also makes for the best quality meat. Having an on-farm micro abattoir means minimal stress to the animal as they never have to be off pasture, be trucked or wait around in unfamiliar environments. Having an on-farm butchery means we can dry age our lamb for five days and be true ‘nose-to-tail’; we use/sell every single part of the animal, from the tongue to the tail,” Nadia says.
Royalburn’s success is a celebration of primary product excellence as well as their vision and commitment to food safety.
“When we went live, we had New Zealand Food Safety here with us, to see through our entire process management. There is zero room for mistakes when handling raw meat. Fortunately, we’d found a very capable team of operators to run both the abattoir and butchery,” Nadia says.
During Vincent’s visit to Royalburn Station, he was impressed by the investment in their micro abbatoir. “Royalburn has a unique farm-to-plate system, which enables them to carry out processing, butchering, packing and distributing their products without leaving the farm. They are setting an example of innovation in farming and high value food production.”
Royalburn Station is one of the oldest farms in New Zealand. Founded in 1887 by William McKibbon, its pioneering heritage is steeped in grain – growing wheat and barley for the gold miners’ and early settlers’ essentials of bread and beer.
Nadia adds, “We are extraordinarily unique in that our lamb is grown, finished, killed and butchered on farm, then distributed direct to our customers across the country, making us true ‘farm-to-plate’. Lamb done this way is, without a doubt, one of its kind in New Zealand and globally.”
Having an operation that prioritises integrity of product and safety of practice makes Royalburn Station an excellent example of New Zealand Food Safety’s vision: that New Zealand food is trusted by everyone, everywhere.
To learn more about what you and your business can do to set a good food safety culture, check out New Zealand Food Safety’s resources online: Food safety toolkit | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz).
