Gilmore Braes Heritage Beef: creating a 'niche market' farming ancient breeds of cattle

• This is an excellent video for studies of food production within the economics and business and design and technologies curriculums. Its coverage of Gilmore Braes Heritage Beef's direct marketing of its niche product combined with the discussion points at the end are particularly useful for content descriptions in years 6, 7, 8 and 10 economics and business. These include the reasons businesses exist and the different ways they provide goods in year 6; the characteristics of successful businesses and the ways consumers and producers respond to and influence each other in the market in year 7; the ways that businesses respond to opportunities in Australia in year 8; and the ways businesses organise themselves to improve productivity in year 10.
• Ian McCorkingdale's emphasis on the care and management of his ancient cattle breeds and the resultant quality of the meat is also very useful for upper primary and secondary content descriptions in design and technologies, especially how and why food is produced in managed environments in years 5/6 and how products evolve locally and regionally through the innovation and enterprise of individuals in years 7/8. Gilmore Braes Heritage Beef would be a most worthwhile case study for the years 9/10 content description about investigating and making judgments on the ethical production and marketing of food.
• The video also has value for work studies elective curriculum. The insight it provides into the work of specialist farmers and into the McCorkindales' philosophy of trying something new is useful for content descriptions that focus on investigating a wide range of occupations and the required skills and personal qualities in year 9 and assessing the benefits of developing an 'entrepreneurial mindset' and its relevance to 21st century work and enterprise in year 10.

5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10