Farming Focus

Does quality drive success? - with Matt Chatfield and Phillip Warren

Episode Summary

This episode of Farming Focus explores how smaller South West farms could prioritise quality over quantity, featuring insights from Phillip Warren of Philip Warren Butchers and Matt Chatfield of the Cornwall Project on meat grading, niche markets, and building strong producer-buyer relationships.

Episode Notes

In this episode of Farming Focus, host Peter Green explores how smaller farms in the South West can take control of their future by focusing on quality over quantity. Market conditions for beef and other produce can fluctuate, but producing high-quality products isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s often essential for survival and growth in today’s competitive agricultural landscape.

Peter is joined by Phillip Warren of Philip Warren Butchers, a business with generations of experience sourcing and selling some of the finest meat in the country, and Matt Chatfield from the Cornwall Project, an initiative that promotes Cornish produce and connects local farmers with top restaurants. Together, they discuss what ‘quality’ truly means in farming and meat production, the pros and cons of the EUROP grading system, alternative ways to assess value such as flavour and provenance, and how the South West is ideally placed to fill high-value niche markets.

Listeners will gain insights into the challenges smaller farms face when prioritising quality, strategies to overcome them, and what the future may hold for the balance between quality and quantity in British farming.

Are there topics you’d like us to cover or guests you’d love to hear from? Get in touch by emailing us at podcast@cornishmutual.co.uk or by connecting with us on our socials @cornishmutual. Your feedback helps us shape the podcast to meet your needs.

Farming Focus is the podcast for farmers in the South West of England, but is relevant for farmers outside of the region or indeed anyone in the wider industry or who has an interest in food and farming. 

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