Key facts
Programme start: July 2015
Length: 9 years
PGP funding: $14.35 million
Industry funding: $14.35 million
Crown funding paid out to programme for work done to 30 June 2023: $13 million
Commercial partners: Alliance Group and Headwaters New Zealand
Estimated potential economic benefits to NZ: Up to $400 million over 25 years
The challenge
New Zealand’s sheep industry was traditionally focused on increasing lamb productivity and yield, selecting animals for lower fat levels. However, reducing fat has had unintended consequences.
Lower fat affects processing, cooking and taste of red meat – much of the flavour of meat comes from fat.
Lower sheep fat (condition) also affects how well ewes cope in winter and raise their lambs.
The Omega Lamb programme recognised an opportunity to breed lambs that increase returns for farmers, while meeting the growing demand for premium healthy, tasty food.
The solution
Established in 2006 to breed ewes with high levels of fat to thrive in New Zealand's high country, Headwaters NZ Limited (Headwaters) identified a genetic line that conferred on progeny the ability to accumulate high levels of intramuscular fat and elevated levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, including Omega 3 and Omega 6 – thereby breeding ‘Omega lambs’. The intramuscular marbling provides a milder taste and higher tenderness compared to commodity lamb.
Headwaters formed a partnership with the Alliance Group Limited (AGL) meat processing cooperative and established the HHA joint venture to further develop Omega lambs. Under the Omega Lamb programme, Headwaters is responsible for the on-farm part of the value chain, including developing, proving, and supplying animal genetics to farmers, and coordinating the cycle of breeding and finishing lambs for processing. AGL processes and sells the lamb products, known as Lumina Lamb. HHA coordinates the value chain and product marketing.
The programme is building a high value export industry by upscaling both the production of, and demand for, Lumina Lamb. The product is supported by a standardised farm system that drives quality outcomes and efficiency gains. The Lumina Lamb model uses a combination of genetics, management, animal nutrition, processing practices, and marketing to deliver its high value differentiated product to targeted customers. The programme uses data and information sharing to create connections across the entire value chain: from farmers to finishers to processors to marketers to international customers.
Programme documents
Outcome logic model for Omega Lamb – November 2015 [PDF, 225 KB]
Omega Lamb financial audit [PDF, 153 KB]
Outcomes to date
The programme is performing well and delivering positive outcomes across a number of performance metrics such as premiums paid to farmers, increases in lamb numbers that achieve specifications, and increases in carcass utilisation. These outcomes are driving higher per head premiums for suppliers and shareholders.
A high value export industry is being created by upscaling both the production of, and demand for Lumina Lamb. The product is supported by a standardised farm system that drives quality outcomes and efficiency gains. Lumina farmers are receiving increasing returns achieved through the commercialisation of a differentiated, premium lamb product. Lumina Lamb targets the high-end food service category for lamb.
Lumina Lamb is providing sectoral leadership by requiring all supplying farmers to be in the process of gaining Farm Assurance Plus (FAP+) accreditation. FAP+ is an independently audited, voluntary farm assurance programme that incorporates origin and traceability, food safety and animal welfare, and sustainability and social responsibility.
Achievements
The programme has performed well, with the following key achievements.
- Achieving the right finishing regime (the ‘Lumina mix’), enabling HHA to capitalise on the potential of the Omega genetics and elevate intramuscular fat and polyunsaturated fats.
- Achieving premiums for participating farmers of $20 per head in 2021/22, exceeding the programme’s initial target of $15 per head.
- Developing processing innovations such as the inclusion of hyperspectral imaging to determine intramuscular fat content in the boning room. These innovations are also being applied by AGL in other areas of its business.
- Identifying that the Omega genetic pool offered only a low-moderate resistance to facial eczema and the introduction of a higher resistance stud to the breeding programme would be necessary.
- Initiating channels to market and sales in North America, China, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.
- Launching the Lumina brand in 2021. The brand emphasises the provenance, consistency, and quality of the product, allowing for reliability and ease of preparation by high-end food service customers (for example international chefs).
- Using the Lumina brand to support a connected end-to-end value chain, from farmer to chef.
