Landmade Quality.
Delivering world –
class protein.
We believe simple systems, minimal intervention, and strong relationships are the keys to successful farms.
Our Story
Procter Farms was proudly founded in 2019. However, our story didn’t begin there.
It began with our founder, Chris Procter – and his journey from farm cadet to contract milker, to share-farmer to farm owner. This diverse experience instilled in him the values, models and systems we implement at Procter Farms today.
After moving his family to New Zealand from Australia during the great depression, William Procter settled in Whangārei, New Zealand. Two generations later, Chris started as a farm cadet in the Waikato region before winning a scholarship to Massey University to study agriculture.
He contract milked in his early twenties before 50/50 share-farming on two different farms, working his way up to his first farm purchase in 1993 – Tara Farm. Tara Farm was an irrigated 215-hectare sheep & beef property situated near Ashburton, Mid Canterbury, which Chris developed into a dairy farm.
Having never inherited a farm, Chris benefited immensely from the dairy farming models that are commonplace in New Zealand, which inspired him to use these systems in Australia.
In 2008, Chris was looking at agricultural investment opportunities in Australia and purchased Oamaru Park in South Australia’s Mt Gambier region in an equity partnership. John and Karen Hunt were managing Tara Farm in Ashburton for Chris but saw an opportunity and moved to Australia to manage Oamaru Park. John and Karen would later enter an equity partnership with Chris until they purchased their first farm and eventually went on to buy another. Karen still works with Procter Farms to this day. Chris made the permanent move to Australia, acquiring Lesper Park in 2015, followed by Wotton, Evelyn, Dromore, Kinloch, Winchmore and Park House farms.
In 2019, Chris bought out his partners in Oamaru Park, and his three sons, Matt, Jason, and Talor, invested as equity partners, forming the beginnings of Procter Farms. A business with family embedded at its core.
With a focus on delivering world-class protein to Australia, Procter Farms branched out into free-range poultry in 2021, with the acquisition of four poultry farms in South Australia, plus a further six shed acquisition in 2024. By diversifying our protein production and exploring sustainable ways to feed the world’s Increasing population, we’re looking into the future and exploring ways to reduce food risk with minimal impact on the planet.
Our People
Chris Procter
Founder and Owner
Tom Rymill
General Manager
Karen Hunt
Finance Manager
Matt Procter
Owner and Project Manager
Talor Procter
Owner
Taking care of what’s most important – land, animals & people.
We believe that when you take care of the land, it’ll take care of you. Caring for the land and the balance of nature is critically important for our success.
We apply simple systems to support the natural environment and minimise our impact from production, managing our natural assets in an optimal way for both our people and animals. The use of these systems has enabled us to achieve significant, consistent and repeatable levels of success.
The welfare of all our animals is paramount. We are committed to ensuring they are treated with respect and thrive in the most natural conditions possible. We are in the small percentage of farms using true pasture-based systems for our dairy, relying on natural rainfall and supplementary irrigation, so our cows are outside all year round, grazing fresh pasture. We ensure that our free-range chickens have easy access to the outside environment to display their natural behaviours and explore the environment freely.
At the heart of Procter Farms are our people. Procter Farms wouldn’t be here today without the people we invest in and, in turn, invest in us. We aim to provide clear, proven career pathways for our team, with this being fundamental to enabling both their own and our success. The safety and well-being of all our people, their families and visitors to our farms is a top priority.
Even as we grow, we pride ourselves on maintaining a flat structure; we’re a small team of farmers, not a large corporate, and we encourage collaboration and feedback to help keep our values at the heart of everything we do.