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Beef from nature reserves: a market view

Geesje Kuit and Hielke S. van der Meulen

Department of Rural Sociology, Agricultural University of Wageningen, The Netherlands
Correspondence address



In the Netherlands, farmers and nature conservation organizations manage an important part of nature reserves with beef cattle. By 2015, further extensification of farm land use will offer a total area of 315.000 ha of nature grasslands, which can produce 120.000 heads of cattle of "nature beef", being 10% of the domestic beef slaughters. Experiences in production and commercialization of this special beef reveal options and key factors in successful marketing, making extensive beef cattle production systems profitable.

Husbandry, beef quality and marketing systems show a broad diversity, arising from differences in the ecology of the reserves, breeds used and additional feeding strategies. A surplus value of about 20% (above the current wholesale prices) is obtained by producers selling to organic butchers and direct marketing to consumers (see figure). The cost/benefit-ratio seems to be most favourable in direct selling. Niche-marketing is gaining importance through the rise of specialized retailers selling to quality butchers in urban areas and stylish restaurants.

An important factor for successful marketing is the effective information-transfer from producer to consumer of the special sensory quality of "nature beef" as related to the area of origin and production process. Secondly, direct sale of 10 to 30 kg meat-packages to consumers combines "square-selling" of the entire carcass with the advantage of short lines of commercialization. This also avoids problems with heterogeneity of carcasses, i.e. of cows (see table). For consumers, buying meat-packages is relatively cheap and convenient for use.

Beef from nature reserves offers market-perspectives by differentiating on special beef qualities, meeting consumers' desire for healthy, safe and tasty products. Small-scale slaughterhouses offer the needed flexibility in this market. Recently, some regional farmers' groups are undertaking the promotion and commercialization for direct marketing. Clear production protocols and controlling instruments are essential conditions.

Figure: Example of marketing channels

Figure: Example of marketing channels

Table: Strong (+) and weak (-) points of marketing channels of beef from nature reserves.


 Meat-packages
from the
farm

 Directly to current butcher

 Directly to restaurants

 Organic
butcher *

 Current marketing channel **
attention to the origin (nature reserve)

 +

 -

 ±

 -

 -
perspective for differentiation on the origin

 ++

 ±

 +

 ±

 -
consumers' knowledge of the origin

 ++

 -

 -

 ±

 -
consumers' knowledge of the production process

 +

 -

 -

 ±

 -
verifiability of the production by consumer

 +

 ±

 -

 +

 -
possibility of regional production and commercialization

 +

 +

 +

 -

 ±
optimal valuation whole carcass by vendor

 ++

 -

 -

 ±

 -
surplus value for producer

 +

 ±

 ±

 +

 -
favourable price for consumer

 +

 -

 -

 -

 -
convenience for the consumer

 ++

 ±

 ±

 ±

 +
scale-advantages in processing and distribution

 -

 -

 -

 +

 +
growth-tendency in marketing channel

 +

 -

 ±

 ±

 -
contribution to continuty of nature management

 ++

 ±

 ±

 +

 -

*) i.e. "De Groene Weg" - butchers
**) In the current marketing channels, beef will mostly end up in the supermarket. This sales point did not came to the front in this study.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESEARCH

Method

10 Cases were studied along the chain: production, processing and commercialization. The cases contain the variety of producers (individual farmers, groups of farmers, nature conservation organizations and also a consumers' group), regions, breeds and husbandry systems.

Husbandry systems

Due to the feed value of nature grasslands, management is more appropriate for beef cattle husbandry than for dairying. Net energy of nature grasslands is generally below 6.2 MJ/kg dm. The production of biomass varies between 4 and 10 TM dm per hectare. The management of these reserves with beef cattle includes grazing and mowing. Four types of beef production systems can be distinguished:

1. year round grazing system in self-regulating nature reserves. Low stocking rate (10 to 30 ha per LU); free range management with breeds as Heck-cattle, Galloway and Scottish Highlander.
2. extensive seasonal grazing system on poor nature grassland. Stocking rate 0,75 LU per ha; suckling cow management with breeds as Limousin, Charolais, Blonde d'Aquitaine.
3. semi-extensive seasonal grazing system on richer nature grassland. Stocking rate 1 LU per ha; suckling cow management with french beef breeds and dual purpose breeds as Maas, Rijn and Yssel-vee (MRY), Blaarkop and Lakenvelder.
4. Seasonal grazing system integrated with arable farming for fattening. Stocking rates and breeds as mentioned under 2 and 3, roughage and concentrates for finishing from nature reserves and/or organic farming.

Market-proportions

The future proportion of meat from these production systems is estimated at 0.3, 21.3, 28.5 and 49.9% for system 1, 2, 3 and 4. Actually, most beef (about 85%) beef is from system 2 and 3 (suckling cows).

Quality aspects

Beef from nature reserves is defined as a high grade product by producers, aware retailers and consumers, principally because of the appreciated taste and structure of the meat obtained through the extensive production (slow raised), vegetation consumed, characteristics of the cattle (sex and breed) and meat processing (aging). Extrinsic quality aspects are also important for consumers: the emotional value of "nature", known origin and reliable production process, contact with the producer, the price, the ease of having stocked beef in the freezer, etc.

Marketing channels

The origin and quality of the beef partly defines the marketing channel. For example: Heck-cattle are sold as aurochs to top restaurants in Paris, Limousin-cows from De Peel in beef-packages directly to local consumers and double-muscled cattle from Flevoland to artisan butchers in the region. A part of the cattle from nature reserves is sold to organic butchers. Most butchers and wholesalers buy economically attractive bulls of French beef breeds, which however loose characteristics of "nature beef" by the intensive fattening indoor after the suckling period. For the cows, producers look for marketing channels with higher prices: on-farm sale, to butcher-slaughterers and sometimes to restaurants. Selling whole carcasses to restaurants and butchers is generally difficult, because they use to buy from wholesalers. An experiment is set up by a large-scale slaughterhouse for production, processing and marketing of steers (castrated bulls) from nature reserves, aimed at low production costs and sufficient uniformity.

Conclusions

Differences in husbandry and meat quality of "nature beef" is a constraint for achieving the scale advantages of the conventional marketing channels. This diversity however, at the other hand gives the opportunity for quality-distinction (for example regional differences), which can be used as a marketing-tool. Further research will give more information about sensory differences. The benefit of direct selling to consumers is well understood by farmers, being confronted with extremely low wholesale prices. This practice is increasing and can be a promising marketing channel for large quantities of beef, when effectively promoted. Scale-advantage for the processing and marketing of labeled "nature beef" can be obtained by producers' cooperation, as is experimented by a group of 70 farmers in Waterland (North-Holland).

Acknowledgment

This research has been carried out with contributions from nature conservation organizations (Staatsbosbeheer, Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, Provinciale Landschappen), the agricultural organization (Land en Tuinbouworganisatie Nederland), beef cattle breeders (Federatie Vleesveestamboeken Nederland) and the Dutch meat board (Productschap Vee en Vlees).

Mrs Geesje Kuit
Department of Rural Sociology,
Agricultural University of Wageningen,
Hollandseweg 1
6706 KN Wageningen
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 317 483032
Fax: +31 317 483990

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