At the other extreme, Kunz is working with Chicks Love Food to promote Cervena. They’re two extremely popular Dutch food bloggers with a strong social media presence, including 100,000 Instagram followers. Growing sales of venison into new market segments, outside the traditional game season, have increased year-round sales of venison which is helping to flatten out seasonal variations in prices to farmers. With venison production at its lowest in 20 years and less than half the level it reached 10 years ago, some may question why the industry is putting so much energy into promotion. “With farmers rebuilding their breeding herds, there will inevitably be an increase in venison production in the not-too-distant future,” Coup says. “All the exporters involved in P2P are developing year-round markets, which we will need when the kill reaches 350,000, up from the 280,000 forecast for the current year. We could reach that level by 2019.” Silver Fern Farms is expanding summer Cervena into Germany; First Light Foods has developed new markets in the US, Russia and the United Arab Emirates; Mountain River Venison is developing demand from high-end hotels in Shanghai and recently launched a range of new cuts into Sweden; Alliance Group is developing a new market segment in the UK; and Duncan NZ is continuing to build its strong position in the United States. In addition, there is the commitment that they and their in-market partners are putting into the bridgehead they have made with summer Cervena in the Netherlands and Belgium. “It is one thing to have fashions and trends going your way, but we also need to keep looking ahead and our exporters are certainly doing this,” Wilson says. industry and the Ministry for Primary Industries. Wilson says the trial, now in its third year, is starting to embed the notion in the minds of chefs and their diners that Cervena is ‘now in season’ in summer. “The fact that Tui Airlines, the second biggest Belgian-based airline, has put Cervena on its summer menu for business class is a strong example of this.” She says affluent consumers in Europe and the United States are eating out more at premium casual restaurants where small plates and shared plates are fashionable. The rise of paleo style diets also favours venison. “High quality protein produced ethically is important to people following this way of eating and they are willing to pay for it,” she says. Silver Fern Farms general manager marketing Sharon Angus says she has noted a rise in the carnivore market, made up largely of males who love meat and barbecues. www.foodtechnology.co.nz 57
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