Bringing the farming life to heal
Fifteen hundred kilometres away from Savor Group’s Auckland head office, outgoing chair Geoff Ross is mustering at his lakeside farm, scoping out plans for his next venture.
The 53-year-old is retiring from the board of the hospitality group at the end of this month to focus on what he says has potential to become the next big thing: regenerative farming.
Ross and his wife Justine purchased a 6500ha farm on the fringe of Lake Ha¯wea in Central Otago two years ago, and run a small agriculture operation that produces merino wool and premium meats, and doubles as an accommodation retreat for wealthy visitors. This is no typical farm. It shears its sheep on demand, puts animal welfare front and centre and is focused on farming the old school way: using no chemicals, no regular stock feed and ensuring its animals live wholesome lives in their own right.
Ross has been beavering away at Lake Ha¯wea Station while overseeing Savor Group’s transition and demerger from Moa Group, the unprofitable brewing company he bought and floated on the NZX in 2012. He says now is the right time to step down to focus on his own passion project.
“This time last year it was a challenging place to be but I’ve got to say I’m really proud of the board and the executives. Hospitality was one of the toughest sectors through Covid but we stuck to our strategy and our people were fantastic.”
Ross is best known for founding vodka brand 42 Below, acquired in 2006 by global spirits giant Bacardi for $138 million eight years after its inception. But he says his vision for a portfolio of regenerative farms around the country that proves “a more profitable business is a more sustainable and carbon-positive one” will eventually become bigger.
Merino wool farming is Lake Ha¯wea Station’s main source of income. It supplies its wool to Allbirds and Londonbased knitwear brand Sheep Inc, which it has since invested in. It has also recently signed a long-term supply partnership deal with an undisclosed, and one of the biggest, luxury French fashion houses.
Ross’ farming station has been certified carbon-zero by Toitu¯ Envirocare and is the first farm in New Zealand to have its carbon footprint certified. However, as Ross explains, the farm has gone further than that and is in fact “carbon-positive” — sequestering twice as much carbon as it emits.
The farm will soon begin ramping up efforts to produce premium meats.
Transitioning from executive chairman to essentially full-time farmer has been an adjustment, just like moving on to each new venture in the past, Ross admits. “Every new business we have gone through, whether it be advertising to 42 Below, to Ecoya to Trilogy, we invested in technology company Hyper Factory as well, Turners is a large automotive company we’re significant stakeholders in. Every sector, just when you think you’re learning a lot, you realise there is a lot more to learn.
“It’s been the same here. It’s been in equal measures both more challenging than we thought and both more exciting than we thought. The scale of the opportunity is larger than we thought.”
Lake Ha¯wea Station has set itself the lofty goal of being 10 times carbonpositive.
“I love the opportunity in the agricultural sector now in New Zealand. I think we’re at a unique juncture,” Ross says.
His business proposition is to have his hands on, and be involved in, all stages of the growing and production process. It is not washing the wool or spinning the yarn, but it is doing the first and very last parts — where the bulk value lies, says Ross.
“With farming we’re going vertical, and we’re doing it, one because it’s what the consumers want; they want to join all the dots on the way through, they want to see the trail of breadcrumbs from source to store. And two, we’re doing it because it’s more enjoyable.
“I remember my most rewarding moments in 42 Below were when I’d walk into a bar in London and look on the top shelf and there it was. It was incredibly fulfilling and if you farm to the gate you can’t do that — you don’t know where your wool or food has gone.”
The possibilities and how far the Rosses take their farm brand are endless. The hard part is choosing what avenues and ideas to pursue, says Ross.
He believes Lake Ha¯wea Station’s plans for regenerative farming have the potential to become bigger than 42 Below was.
“I genuinely do, I’m not just saying that. There are so many positive ingredients and the timing is good — it could be bigger.”
The farm is home to almost 10,000 sheep. The property even has a five-star dog kennel facility to pamper its working dogs at the end of the day, and strives to let its animals roam free as much as they can.
Ross’ 21-year-old son Finn is undertaking a PhD looking into the carbon sequestering properties of seaweed, which he hopes will provide insights into developing seaweed tonics and supplements to improve animals’ efficiency.
Finn tells the Weekend Herald a seaweed supplement is already being worked on that can inhibit methane in a cow’s gut, essentially preserving energy for the cow and reducing the methane impact on the environment.
— Aimee Shaw travelled to Queenstown courtesy of Lake Ha¯ wea Station.