AUGUST 2025
. 25
Julie and Sandy Cameron, with son Angus, on their property
at Meredith in Victoria. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin
BRAND STAND
Building an agrifood brand is equal parts passion, persistence and a dogged pursuit of perfection, discovers SUE SMETHURST
S ANDY Cameron was wandering through the dairy section of the Whole Foods Market on Columbus Circle, opposite New York City’s Central Park, when he saw a shopper place a jar of his prized marinated goat cheese into his basket. “It was such a buzz!” Cameron says. “But, to my great regret, I didn’t say, ‘Hey, by the way, I made that!’” Sandy and Julie Cameron
“That day (in New York), I casually approached the deli manager behind the counter and asked, ‘Can you tell me about this cheese?’” says Cameron. “He said, ‘Oh yes! This is the cheese we must have in stock. If we don’t, our customers ask why not.’ It was a ‘pinch-me’ moment.” Today, like many other clever Australian agrifood brands, Meredith Dairy
‘We never had a direct conversation about making ‘a brand,’ we didn’t have a clue about that sort of stuff, we just followed our instincts’ SANDY CAMERON
products are shipped to every corner of the globe, but what does it take to create a successful agrifood brand? According to those who’ve done it, the recipe for success is equal parts passion, persistence, and a dogged pursuit of perfection – and sometimes a dash of good luck. “Julie cried when she sold her first wheel of blue cheese to a customer and that feeling, for both of us, has never gone away,” says Cameron. “We never had a direct
never set out to create “a brand” when they purchased their farm at Meredith, an hour west of Melbourne, back in the 1980s. In fact, it was probably the last thing on their minds, as they worked day and night building a business that would support their dream of raising their family and animals, surrounded by creeks, bush and paddocks, just as they’d both enjoyed during their own childhoods.
Their first farming venture was growing wool, “but the wool price halved halfway through our first shearing, so we thought ‘bugger that’,” Cameron laughs. Little could they imagine that their second foray, creating a range of sheep cheese and yoghurt, followed by a gourmet marinated goat cheese, not only changed the course of their lives but put their premium Australian dairy brand, and the rural hamlet it came from, on the international map.
conversation about making ‘a brand’, we didn’t have a clue about that sort of stuff, we just followed our instincts. We knew that we only wanted to produce food that we’d be proud to serve our friends and family, and that is still very much our rule of thumb today, it guides everything we do.”
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