Harvey Beef moves into pre-packed meat

HARVEY Beef is looking to expand its value-adding products, saying lamb is on the cards.

Responding to supermarket clients' demands, Harvey Beef will expand into pre-packed beef and lamb cuts ready-for-retail display.

Farm Weekly understands this could include supplying to WA's first discount supermarket chain Aldi, which was one of the main drivers behind Harvey Beef introducing retail packaging as part of its processing options.

Minderoo Group managing director Andrew Forrest told Farm Weekly its new retail-ready products would soon be available to supply WA supermarkets.

"As you bring in big overseas customers and create competition for the farmers' product away from just Coles and Woolworths, we strengthen the market, grow the prices - which go back to the farmer," Mr Forrest said.

"We are going to bring the energy which you have seen in beef into sheep and really encourage farmers to have faith in the industry long-term.

"We want to keep growing Harvey Beef's great reputation across the world and use that to secure more markets, for more products for West Australians."

Mr Forrest said it was all about retaining as much value as possible for the local domestic supply chain.

"As you have heard me challenge my own management, we have almost a century-old legacy and a great reputation, marry that history and modern integrity together and we can effectively market other streams of agricultural produce.

"We are having a crack."

The Harvey Beef site will see a new retail packaging facility operational by the end of May.

It will have WA's largest fully-automated plate freezer, capable of freezing 4500 cartons of meat a day.

A new freezer store is already open.

The new freezers will give the plant sufficient chilled holding capacity to store all the products processed onsite.

Minderoo's head of agribusiness John Hartman said expanding the product range had its challenges, but Harvey Beef would look at solutions to assist the entire supply chain.

"With the retail packaging facility we are just as excited with the export opportunities from value-adding product, as we are domestically," he said.

"The sheep supply chain has more issues in it than the beef supply chain.

"We think we can find solutions to assist the sheep supply chain."