When asked what the future holds for Welsh Farm Organics Jonathan Rees is clear.
“The aim of Welsh Farm Organics is to provide the customer with good quality Welsh beef, pork and lamb, straight from the farm. We get a fantastic response from our customers and this is what makes us really proud of what we have achieved”.
Jonathan and his wife Sally run Welsh Farm Organics, an organic farm and processing plant where Jonathan’s family has been farming in Mid-Wales for generations and where he was born. They have enthusiastically taken over part of the family’s 620-acre organic beef and sheep farm at Tyn Y Fron, near Newtown and the decision to convert to organic production was simple. “Organic farming is sustainable and does not run the risk of endangering the land or the animals and we feel it has a great deal to offer Wales and the farm achieved full organic status in 2001”. He realised that there was a gap in the market for affordable, high quality, organic meat, so with help from the Welsh Development Agency, the couple invested in an on-farm-processing unit and took the marketing of their meat into their own hands.
By 2002, the building with separate chill rooms, cutting and preparation areas, freezers, offices and storage facilities was complete and hey now process organic beef, lamb, pork, dry cured bacon, speciality sausages, burgers, faggots and air-dried meats, when necessary sourcing meat from other local organic farms.
Welsh Farm Organics favour indigenous Welsh Black cattle and also run a flock of organic Welsh Mountain and Speckled Face sheep and Jonathan is delighted to be able to provide 100% traceability for all the meat they produce. “Our livestock graze on lush pastureland, full of grasses, clovers and herbs that improve the flavour of the meat and some of the pastures in this valley haven’t been ploughed for 40-50 years which lend themselves to organic farming”
The company uses a local abattoir, Hamer International, about 10 miles from the farm and process about 100 cattle and 1,000 lambs a year. Jonathan used to prepare all the meat himself, but now a small team of professional butchers prepare the meat before dispatching it directly to the customer. To enhance the flavour; the beef is hung for a minimum of 21 days, a process that increases the tenderness and concentrates the flavour.
The company have recently introduced their own brand of air dried, Welsh beef ‘Maldwyn Cure’, which has been compared to the Italian classic, Bresaola. To achieve this unique taste, the beef is hung for five to six months before being very thinly sliced and then packed by hand. They have been overwhelmed by demand for this product and are now planning to extend the range to include salamis, cured ham and other air-dried meats. Seventy percent of the company’s sales come from the restaurant trade, primarily in London, with a further 20 percent coming from the company’s on-line shop. Welsh Farm Organics is now a major player in the mail order market, delivering throughout the UK by a next day courier service. In the long term Jonathan would like to increase their mail order sales through the website, selling more organic meat directly to the public and employing more local peopleJonathan and Sally have recently been awarded a contract to supply Welshpool High School in Powys with their own organic lamb, beef and pork, as well as sourcing and supplying organic chicken and turkey. “We are also going to be supplying the school with our own Mochdre range of sausages, which were chosen by the pupils themselves in a blind tasting” said Jonathan. We get a fantastic response from all our customers and this is what makes us really proud of what we have achieved”.
