Comment
Turakina is one of those places which you tend to pass through on the way to somewhere. And that's not me throwing shade towards the small rural enclave, it's just how I have grown to know it over the years. But the Turakina/Whangaehu area has a lot going for it in terms of its farming community which is part of the backbone of our region and country. It is a beautiful part of the world where you have hard working people striving to better themselves and their farm businesses in what is a tough and increasingly volatile market.
I was lucky last week to spend time with one of these such people, and someone whose work I have admired from here for a very long time. Richard Redmayne is the founder of Coastal Spring Lamb – which now encompasses 17 farms throughout the North Island. And this is a business which has gone out and achieved a number of the things which I have been highlighting over the years in these articles and even in formal papers to economic development entities.
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Coastal Spring Lamb is an exemplar of taking your core business and adding real, tangible value to it. The value is definitely in the product, which is in my view the best and most unique lamb on the market, but it is also in the "story" of the business. The story extends from the farming families which are part of the group but also to the growing following of highly satisfied customers and chefs – both here in New Zealand and around the world.