So, what is Nuffield and what does it mean to be a Nuffield scholar? Over the last 60 years, the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust has provided over 800 people - with a background in agriculture, its associated industries and the rural community - the chance to travel to expand their knowledge and understanding. Scholars are selected from the UK, New Zealand, Australia, France, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya. The aim of the process as I understand it at this stage is that individuals with potential are given the opportunity to explore a topic of their choice and through the funding and contacts of the Nuffield network travel and learn from extraordinary people.
It is at this stage that I must thank Nuffield for giving me this wonderful opportunity and make a special mention to Newcastle University, of which I am a graduate, and the Mac Cooper Fund for kindly sponsoring my award and supporting me on my travels.
So what is my topic and what is it that I want to achieve? The subject title I wish to study is:
“With curry the new food of Great Britain; can the Sunday roast be the new food of Asia?”
Asia is the fastest growing market in the world, it has the fastest growing population and personal wealth is growing rapidly. If you mentioned the words “status symbol” in Great Britain you would think of a speed boat or sports car, in many parts of Asia and especially China the latest status symbol is meat! I would like to study these changes and look at what opportunities there are in Asia for the British meat industry. With our temperate climate, welfare and heritage of stockmanship is there a market for the Sunday Roast in Asia?
My reasons for choosing this topic are largely based on my desire to explore export opportunities for Medium Rare. While I worked in the banking industry I was exposed to the significant changes taking place in the emerging BRICS markets first hand. Having consciously moved into the meat industry three years ago I have always wondered, in the back of my mind, what the effects will be of such rapid growth in the region and how the meat industry as a business could capitalise from this. I have a brother in law who works in the beef industry in Australia and has been involved first hand in implementing successfully the Wagyu production method in Western Australia. While I enjoy the concept of what he has done, I would like to look more closely at meeting the demands of Asian meat requirements. Furthermore, investigating if it is possible to create a market based upon the British values of farming livestock and preparation of meat.
I firmly believe that the impact of this topic on the British meat industry could be huge. Currently our industry is being squeezed, both in numbers of livestock on the ground. and in profit margin, due to the fact that we are producing on a commodity basis and are increasingly having to compete with producing countries such as Namibia, Brazil and Poland on price when they have a significantly lower cost structure and poor welfare systems. I know first hand, having set up Medium Rare successfully, that marketed correctly British Meat can be sold at a premium. I would like to investigate my belief that as Asians become wealthier they will want to experiment with different food cultures, in much the same way as we have done in the UK. This offers a huge opportunity for the industry and one we should grasp with both hands.
Well, here we go, please follow the blog and i hope you will learn, enjoy and get a small idea of the experience that I am undertaking. So far my experience of Nuffield has been nothing but positive, a great new set of friends, a huge network of people to tap into and learn from and a great trip to the USA...keep reading and I will tell you all about it!
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