Sonya Comiskey uses Nuffield scholarship to launch new brands

“I’m collaborating with other regionally-based beef producers, feedlots, processors and technology platform owners to supply regionally produced beef ‘from the heart of Queensland’.”

Queensland beef producer and 2018 Nuffield Scholar SonyaComiskey says branded beef can give producers more controlto set prices rather than take prices.

After travelling across the world with her research, Emerald beef producer Sonya Comiskey has identified growth opportunities for Australian beef and agricultural industries.

A 2018 Nuffield Scholar, Ms Comiskey has launched Southern Cross Beef, a branded beef program produced in Queensland, for Queenslanders, and is about to launch Australia’s first French beef brand, Epicurean Beef.

“Building off what I have learned in my Nuffield studies, I’m collaborating with other regionally-based beef producers, feedlots, processors and technology platform owners to supply authentic French heritage beef and regionally produced beef ‘from the heart of Queensland’,” she said.

“Together we are trialling the adoption of new technologies in the beef industry such as BeefLedger that uses blockchain, to support that provenance messaging and the marketing of the brand across domestic markets with a view to expanding into export markets predominantly in the Asia-Pacific.”

This all started after Ms Comiskey and her former husband introduced Bazadais, a heritage French beef breed, to their herd, which won them awards in some of the largest carcass competitions in Australia.

Sonya Comiskey at Sirromet Winery in Brisbane, where her Southern Cross Beef is the exclusive beef supplied.

They also worked with a renowned French restaurant in Brisbane to host events to promote their beef and the Bazadais breed by way of market research.

Driven to take branded beef to the next level, Ms Comiskey embarked on a Nuffield Scholarship – generously supported by Rabobank – that allowed her travel from the Central Highlands across the world, meeting successful produce brand owners and technology leaders from Europe, United States and Japan.

Ms Comiskey’s research identified opportunities not only for her individual business but across Australian beef and agriculture.

Her other big learning was that ‘people do business with people’, and understanding that consumers opt for experiences.

“I was almost embarrassed to have something so obvious as a finding, but interpersonal relationships were just so important at all the businesses I visited – even in multimillion-dollar businesses in Northern Ireland and the US, deals were being done on a handshake and word of mouth,” Ms Comiskey said.

“Incredible businesses like Dingley Dell Pork in England, and Heartbrand Beef in Texas invite their clients to see the production.

“Experiences like this should be incorporated to create an emotional connection with branded beef programs.

“While it might be hard to get Japanese chefs out to our farms, virtual or augmented reality headsets can transport them to mustering in a chopper over the impressive rangelands of regional Queensland where our beef is produced.”

2018 Nuffield Scholar Sonya Comiskey with Caron and Andy McCullough at their Bazadaise33 stud in the Bordeaux region of France 2019.

For more beef producers to benefit from branded beef, Ms Comiskey said increased access to processing capacity needed to be established in strategic locations.

“A lack of reliable access to service processing is the single greatest barrier to entry and scale for producer-led beef brands in Australia, particularly Queensland,” she said.

She says a lack of access to smaller scale, high tech service processing operations was a missing opportunity for regional development in places like Central Queensland, which is home to almost a quarter of the nation’s beef cattle herd.

“There’s great opportunity for industry and government to incentivise this kind of development, because it aligns with government priorities of regional development, innovation, manufacturing and technology,” Ms Comiskey said.

Winning the Nuffield Scholarship gave Ms Comiskey the confidence to launch her own beef brand with a collaborative value chain.

“The Nuffield experience is life changing and invaluable,” she said.

“You get a level of access like no other, and then the connections you make – it’s unbelievable.”

Nuffield Australia awards up to 20 scholarships every year. Applications are now open for 2022 Nuffield Scholarships, with applications closing on Friday, August 6.