Part of being a professional board member is spending time building rapport with fellow board members and executive teams. Often, this involves getting together for dinner the night before a board meeting. Now, that might sound like a well-paid junket, but it’s actually a really important part of the job. When you’re deep in the trenches, working closely with people and spending time with them in a social setting are critical to building strong team bonds.
Anyway, recently, I was at one of these board dinners. Seeing as we were at a well-regarded steakhouse in Auckland, I decided to order the Wagyu steak. I don’t get to eat Wagyu very often. We raise our own meat at home, so while I enjoy plenty of very nice lamb and beef, it’s usually more standard varieties – not the top-shelf stuff. As I was slowly and deliberately chewing my very excellent piece of Wagyu, I started thinking about the producers of that meat, and more broadly, New Zealand’s huge footprint as a primary producer.
To clarify, when I say “footprint,” I’m not talking about a carbon footprint in the negative sense. I mean the brand recognition that New Zealand meat, dairy, and fibre have around the world.
I always remember traveling in Nepal a few years ago, driving down a random road, and seeing a sign above a shop advertising that it sold Anchor milk products. Yes – ever since I became aware of the value that can be extracted from selling a differentiated, high-quality product in the marketplace, I’ve wondered why New Zealand has this persistent desire to sell commodity products on the global stage.
Our temperate climate and high rainfall mean we’re incredibly good at growing grass. That, in turn, means we can raise livestock outdoors year-round, grazing on lush, green New Zealand pasture. The result? Our meat, milk, and fibre are high-quality, low-impact, and great-tasting.
And yet, we sell it in bulk – as a commodity – so someone else can package it as a premium product, which is why I was excited to come across First Light Farms the other day. First Light Farms is a business that sells high-quality Wagyu beef and venison on the global stage. They are unapologetically selling an absolutely top-shelf product at a top-shelf price.
Established in 2003, First Light aims to produce premium meat with a focus on animal welfare and sustainability. Initially, First Light Farms began with pasture-raised venison before expanding into Wagyu beef.
The company has a commitment to ethical farming practices, and to this end, they partner with farmers across New Zealand who share their values. This approach helps them to deliver consistent quality and sustainability in their meat products. This isn’t your bargain chuck steak from the freezer section of your local discount supermarket. This is premium meat, served in some of the best restaurants in the world. It’s exactly the kind of thing we, as a country, should be aiming for.
The model would seem to be working. Today, First Light Farms exports its products internationally, including to the United States, where they have established a presence to cater to the growing demand for high-quality, grass-fed meat. Their success story is a testament to innovation, resilience, and a commitment to ethical and sustainable farming practices.
Our farmers are incredibly innovative and hardworking people. They put in a lifetime of gut-wrenching effort to make a living. They deserve to earn a differentiated, high-level return for what they produce. Traditionally, the way to achieve this has been through intensification—hence why, on drives around my home province of Canterbury, I see dairy farm after dairy farm, all intensively producing milk destined to be dried and sold as an ingredient overseas.
But First Light Farms and others like them are challenging that model. They’ve proven that it’s possible to pay farmers far more than the commodity market ever could. They’re showing us what New Zealand should, could, and must do moving forward.
Too often, the rural-urban divide is oversimplified. As someone who considers myself both a townie and a country dweller, I get it. Urban folks want to enjoy their prime steak at fancy restaurants—and they also want healthcare, education, and other social services funded by foreign income. Meanwhile, rural people want the freedom and connection to the land that farming provides—but without being worked to the bone and having to squeeze every last drop from the earth just to survive.
The answer is simple: more operations like First Light Farms. More high-value products sold on the global stage at high margins. A shift away from intensification. And more foreign currency earned to pay for New Zealand’s infrastructure, cancer treatments, and the education of our next generation.
It’s a match made in heaven—a systems-level approach that lets us do more with what we do best here in this great land of ours.
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