The Conference reviewed

Our recent conference saw farmers, industry experts and supply-chain partners come together to explore the future of premium beef production. 

Delivered in partnership with the British Wagyu Breeders Association, the two-day event was held in Kelso in the Scottish Borders on 13 and 14 May and audiences heard from experts in retail, nutrition, genetics and cattle health.  

Tom Richardson, MD, said: “Firstly we are so grateful to all the farmers who gave up their valuable time and left farms to learn more about Warrendale and where we are headed. 

“The conference was inspirational and the key takeaways for me – and hopefully all our delegates – were how special this product we are creating is and that Warrendale’s processes, which we continue to refine, are robust enough to ride out any future threats.” 

Aldi’s conference presentation extolled the importance of the partnership between Warrendale and the supermarket – and the desire to strengthen it further as the retailer’s expansion plans continue, was clear. 

While specialists from the worlds of nutrition and food security, Dr Carrie Ruxton and Professor David Barling, told the audience about wagyu’s unique benefits to heart-health and how its popularity will continue to grow as well as how Warrendale’s business model should protect it through any future turbulence in the sector.  

This aligns with one of Warrendale’s main aims – forging a resilient supply chain for all stakeholders.  

As part of this, the company’s Monitor Farms Project, launching this year, will drive productivity and, ultimately, profitability for the whole Warrendale community.  

As revealed at the conference, data will be collected on-farm and shared widely to encourage discussion and analysis, ultimately creating more efficient and more sustainable farming businesses.  

Two other initiatives, Beefherd 2.0 and creating buying groups, are further ways Warrendale is being proactive and adding value at multiple stages of the process.  

Tom said: “We are working with all our stakeholders to ensure what we have created can face the challenges ahead.” 

Warrendale Wagyu will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year. Currently it has 800 farmer partners, and 600 calves are born into its scheme each week. The short-term target now is to get to 750 calves per week, but longer-term ambitions are to reach 2,000 globally. 

The company’s market share has grown 18-fold in the last five years (from 0.1% in 2021 to 1.8% in 2026) but is still small in relation to UK beef kill totals. However, forecasts suggest 60% growth in wagyu sales globally over the next 7 years with total global beef consumption to reach 75m tonnes by 2030 (compared to 72.5m tonnes in 2026). 

Tom said: “We have been resilient in a volatile market; the last nine years have thrown everything at us, but we have still had growth due to a high quality, nutrient dense product that offers affordable luxury. Our story and strong partnerships have also played crucial roles.” 

The conference included a Gala Dinner with a performance by BAFTA-winning comedian Rory Bremner and a charity raffle which raised over £25,000 which will be split equally between farming charities RSABI and RABI. 

Watch out for more articles based on our speaker sessions coming up!

 

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