AS a sixth-generation farming family, Andrew and Nicola Forrest understand that the benefits of a strong agricultural industry are felt across Western Australia.
In 2014, the Forrests' Minderoo Group founders purchased Harvey Beef, returning an iconic local business to WA hands.
In the five years since then, Harvey Beef has gone through a major transformation to firmly establish itself as the state's premier beef producer.
Looking ahead the business is taking steps to strengthen the trusting relationship it has with the local community and further establish its reputation across Australia.
As a direct response to customer feedback, a retail-ready processing room was built in 2016. This allows the business to supply supermarkets with pre-sliced and pre-packed steak cuts and marinated products under the Harvey Beef brand.
The new processing room created 40 jobs at the Harvey facility and the products have been tremendously well-received by retailers and customers.
More recently Harvest Road, the Forrests' agrifood business and parent company of Harvey Beef, acquired 17,000 acres of land at Koojan near Moora, 170km north of Perth. The plan is to establish a world-class cattle facility and produce lines of premium WA beef for local and international markets.
The facility is planned to accommodate 40,000 cattle at any one time, to directly supply the processing facility at Harvey with 100-day grain finished cattle.
The philosophy of the Koojan facility will be built on innovative cattle husbandry practices, advised by leading cattle expert Professor Temple Grandin.
Grandin's methods are recognised world-wide and deliver radical improvement to animal welfare.
The new facility will endeavour to become the most innovative cattle operation in WA.
It will commit to filling a long-standing gap in the WA cattle supply chain and provide viable and sustainable alternative markets for local cattle producers. It will also complement and advance WA's existing feeding facilities.
It's this commitment to excellence and drive for innovation that also motivates the Forrests and their employees. It's this mindset that will embed Harvey Beef as an agrifood leader in WA, as the business makes plans for the next 100 years.
