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Reading Time: 3 minutes Follow the Farmers Weekly Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hamish and Simon Guild traded the altitude of High Peak Station for the Andes this month, to discover how Argentinian farmers produce red meat and run agritourism ventures. The Guilds won the supreme award at the 2024 Ballance Farm Environment Awards, and part of the prize package was a study tour. High Peak Station is a 3760 hectare (3450ha effective) property managed by an eight-way partnership that runs four different businesses. Its income is derived from sheep, cattle, deer, honey and tourism. Hamish told the Farmers Weekly podcast that Argentina was an obvious destination for them. “We tried to focus on livestock production and tourism, similar to what we do here, and hopefully get a few lessons out of that and a few learnings.” They visited a range of farms, from extensive beef operations in country similar to the Mackenzie in New Zealand, to feedlot operations. A highlight was a farm that ran a completely circular system. “They had a large-scale pig farm, a large-scale beef feedlot, a very large arable operation,” Hamish said. “On top of that, they were using the waste products to make biofuel, and even grabbing the green waste from the local town and using that as well. It was an extraordinary circular system. “They described it and we kept thinking, ‘Wow, if they went to put themselves into the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, they would be a very tough beat.’ It was a very aspirational, but really well executed as well.” As well as the farming side of things, agritourism was a focus of the tour. Simon operates that part of High Peak’s business and said the Argentinians had an effective strategy. “They do it really simply, and it fits so well, certainly down in the Patagonian regions with the whole gaucho culture. They do it humbly and they do it really well, and it’s a great experience. There is huge potential for that type of agritourism and partaking in rural culture over here.” Hunters in Argentina covet red stags as we do here, and Simon said there was a lot they saw that could be adopted here. “When you combine that hunting with the gaucho culture, it’s a great experience and it’s certainly something that we will think about – how we put our mark on what we offer – as a result.” While the main market for Argentinian beef is domestic, Hamish said farmers there are still committed to sustainability. “They were far more attuned than I thought some of them might be given that most of the consumption is domestic. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be as attuned to international markets as, say, New Zealand, but they very much had the finger on the pulse.” Utilising different cuts of a carcase was also something that stood out for them, with time and care taken to prepare meat. The Guilds will now write a report of their travels.
