2019 NSW Farmer Of The Year finalist - Lauren Newell

Linga Longa Farm, Wingham NSW

A tree changer from the corporate world, love brought Lauren to farming through her Hereford cattle farmer husband Greg but it is her love of numbers that is bringing diversity to the farm and the farm to the plates of consumers locally and further afield.

From small beginnings - a humble red esky and local home deliveries, by utilising her social media savvy their “Buymeat” business now provides pasture raised, pasture finished beef direct from their farm to consumers around the state, with a whole of beast no waste philosophy.

With an innate innovative business bent thanks to her former marketing career, Lauren keeps abreast of food trends and has taken the tip to tail concept to new heights selling bone broth to food retailing heavyweight Harris Farm.

Her commitment to diversification doesn’t stop there, Lauren and Greg have turned selling a steak into a full blown experience, renovating an old house on their property and turning it into a tourism enterprise, allowing those who buy their steaks to come and ‘meet the meat’,  They are now recognised as AirBnB ‘superhosts’.

Lauren’s commitment and passion for farming extends beyond their own fence line to supporting other local producers, businesses and charities and regional and rural communities more broadly. Her “Name a Cow” campaign designed to raise funds for drought affected farmers as well as better connect people with farmers attracted support and dollars from as far afield as the US.