A Global Perspective Through the Plate to Pasture Award
As winners of Silver Fern Farms Plate To Pasture Award 2025, Sarah and Jarred Coogan from MataRata Downs in Taranaki were given the opportunity to explore the USA and Canada on the Silver Fern Farms International Market Tour 2026.
Like many New Zealand farmers, we'd spent years hearing about US markets through industry reports, farming papers and market insights. Standing in a retail store in Chicago and seeing New Zealand red meat on the shelf bought it to reality.
We've been farming in Taranaki since 2010 and bought into the Hocken family farm with Sarah’s parents in 2015. We had arrived back at farming after a decade each in agricultural corporate roles; rural banking, regional council, fertiliser rep, marketing and supply chain.
Having children certainly changed our perspective. We both grew up farming sheep and beef and had wanted to raise our kids on the land too.
However, we're also grateful we gained experience outside the farm gate when we did. It gave us a broad understanding of international markets, customers, and what it actually takes to get food into the hands of consumers.
Winning the 2025 Silver Fern Farms Plate to Pasture Award gave us the opportunity to join the annual International Market Tour, travelling alongside other farming couples from around New Zealand. The tour included visits to Texas, Detroit, Chicago, Boston and Toronto, where we met customers, retailers and industry partners and saw firsthand how New Zealand red meat is positioned in market.
The first thing about the United States we noticed was the scale. Everything felt bigger. The farms, supermarkets, distribution centres and population numbers were operating on a completely different level to what we're used to in New Zealand.
The scale of American beef production was remarkable, but it reinforced that New Zealand's advantage isn't competing on size. Our strength lies in our natural environment, grass-fed farming systems, and the quality story behind our product.
The tour highlighted how focused some American consumers were on understanding where their food comes from and being able to back up claims around production systems.
Like many farmers, we've sometimes wondered whether all the audits, paperwork, and reporting requirements are worth the effort. After seeing global markets firsthand, we're convinced they are, and that farmers play a direct role in supporting the story being told to consumers thousands of kilometres away.
It was clear that claims need to be backed up with evidence. It's no longer enough to simply say you're grass-fed or managing environmental outcomes responsibly. As we experienced at McDonald’s HQ and at Costco, Customers increasingly want validation.
The work farmers do, collecting data and completing assurance programmes, gives customers confidence that what we're telling them is true. It helps to tell our story.
A consistent message throughout the tour was that grass-fed remains a significant point of difference for New Zealand. What encouraged us most was hearing that it isn't viewed as a passing fad but a ‘forever trend.’
We also noticed a huge focus on protein. Everywhere we went, protein was being promoted as part of healthy diets and consumer purchasing decisions. As one customer told us, "Protein is hot right now."
For anyone thinking about taking part in a future market tour, we'd say go for it.
As farmers, we're genuinely curious about where our product ends up and what happens to it along the way. We want to know what's important to the people selling it and what matters to the customer standing in front of the shelf, deciding what to buy.
Ultimately, the trip reminded us that every animal we raise eventually ends up on someone's plate. Seeing that connection firsthand reinforced the responsibility we have as farmers, but it also gave us confidence that New Zealand's story continues to resonate in some of the world's most important markets.
