Winners announced: NAB Agribusiness Awards for Excellence 2006

Australia’s top agribusiness companies have been recognised through the prestigious NAB Agribusiness Awards for Excellence 2006, have been presented at a glittering ceremony in Melbourne.

WINNER: OBE Beef

• Export Award (sponsor – Monash University)

(Simone Tully (centre) and Scott Fraser of OBE Beef (right) accept the Monash University Export Award from Mr Ron Fairchild, Vice President – Advancement, Monash University (left).

OBE Beef pioneered the organic beef industry in Australia and is now the country’s largest producer and processor of organic beef products. It represents the interests of more than 30 cattle producers, who together manage seven million hectares in the Channel Country of inland Australia.

The company’s core focus on global marketing opportunities has seen OBE develop relationships in key markets such as the United States, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada and the United Kingdom.

OBE Beef manages the supply chain from the farm gate, through processing and shipping, to the consumer and is continually forging relationships with organisations who can add value directly to the supply chain.

The company was the first fully branded aussie beef program in the United States in 1999, and was recently invited to become an associate member of the largest organic cooperative in the US, which supplies 1800 stores across America. This requires adherence to strict quality assurance protocols over and above those required for domestic sales.

OBE Beef is the first company in Australia to design, develop and produce a full retail packaged hamburger and meatball program to the US – an achievement akin to ‘selling ice to Eskimos’. The company designed the entire supply chain from concept through to contracts unique to Australia and believes it can demonstrate there is significant value to be captured within Australia in terms of quality control, value adding, and logistics.

OBE Beef is continually responding to changes in the marketplace and intent on gaining quality supply relationships into the future.

The export marketing plan focuses on initiatives such as continuous monitoring of market developments and competition, maintaining long term price sustainability to justify market development and aligning OBE Beef with the most reputable customers in the market.

By its very creation, OBE Beef has demonstrated the ability for the production sector of Australia to move down the supply chain and become the supply chain manager. It has been profitable to all participants, with demonstrated returns 10% to 40% above conventional business.

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