Alliance Group Launches New Premium Lamb Offer to Farmers
Leading foods and solutions co-operative Alliance Group has launched a new premium lamb offer to farmers as it seeks to capture greater value for its products and reward its shareholders.
The Pure South Handpicked Lamb programme will use an assessment system to measure eating quality with the qualifying lamb initially exported to premium retail markets in Asia and North America.
In the first year of the programme, Alliance Group will offer farmers an additional 10c/kg premium payment to all qualifying animals that meet the requirements at the time of processing. The 10 cent premium is on top of the 15 cent premium Alliance Group currently pays for lambs raised without antibiotics.
The Handpicked Lamb programme is being unveiled to farmers at Alliance Group’s annual farmer road-show meetings around the country.
“As a 100 per cent farmer-owned co-operative, Alliance Group is committed to building a differentiated premium portfolio and providing our farmers with opportunities to partner with us on new products for new segments across our entire range,” said David Surveyor, chief executive of Alliance Group.
“Building on our successful Handpicked Beef programme, this initiative taps into the growing demand from increasingly discerning consumers around the world who are willing to pay a price premium for our red meat products and the attributes guaranteed by a brand they trust.
“Importantly, the programme’s strict criteria means the co-operative can optimise the quality of livestock and reward farmers for producing lambs our premium markets are seeking.
“Our Handpicked Lamb programme is an exciting opportunity for our co-operative and our farmers. It strongly reflects our business transformation strategy and will enable us to capture greater market value for our products and pass those gains directly back to farmers supplying the programme.”
The programme is open to Alliance Group’s Platinum and Gold shareholders, who supply 100 per cent of their ovine livestock to the company.
Lamb must be born and raised on the supplier’s property, achieve special raising claim requirements and be antibiotic-free.
The lambs must also weigh between 17.1kgs–23kgs, meet required levels of fat cover, intramuscular fat and have desirable pH levels. All ewes supplying lambs must be body condition scored throughout the year.
Only wether and ewe lambs may be supplied to the programme. The lamb will be selected from lambs of any breed except Merino. Lambs with greater than 50% Merino genetics will not be accepted as these have their own unique attributes and are marketed under the premium Silere Alpine Origin Merino brand.
The meat will be hand-selected through Alliance’s plants and then aged to ensure eating quality.
The Handpicked Lamb programme expands the co-operative’s award-winning Handpicked Beef range — the 21 Day Aged Beef and the 55 Day Aged Beef, which for two years running has won gold medals at the coveted World Steak Challenge.
For further information, please contact:
Sam Halstead
Mobile: 027 474 6065
Email: sam@latitudesc.co.nz
