Distinguished meat industry leader and processor Grant Edmonds passed away this week, aged 71.

Grant Edmonds

A long-standing National Meat Association and Australian Meat Industry Council member, Mr Edmonds was a great enthusiast of product development, processing and an early-adopter of new technologies.

Born in Atherton, Queensland, started working life as a banker for CBA, before going on to develop a small domestic abattoir at Young NSW, into a successful multi-species beef, lamb and pork facility.

He spent more than 30 years building the Burrangong Meat Processors business at Young and also briefly operated the Gunnedah abattoir after it passed into private operations after a long period as a Council owned facility.

Showing entrepreneurial flair, Mr Edmonds developed a line of sheepskin boots and spent many years visiting China, developing two-way trade in sheepskin and sheepskin products.

He was a long-term employer in regional areas and a job generator, adding a dried pet food plant to the Young facility and organised international marketing to US supermarket chains of finished dried pet foods, all made from meat industry co-products produced on site at the Young plant.

Mr Edmonds also operated butcheries in the Sydney region and was an early innovator in waste water energy as well as an investor in cutting edge co-products with partners including the Sydney Royal North Shore Hospital.

He gave tireless industry service including as a board member of AusMeat and the Australian Meat Processor Corporation, and as treasurer of both the National Meat Association and AMIC for many years.

Mr Edmonds passed away on 20 September.

Family and friends of invited to attend a funeral service to be held in the North Chapel of Pinegrove Crematorium, Kington Street, Minchinbury, NSW on Wednesday, 28 September commencing
at 12 noon.

• Acknowledgements to Brian Todd and Australian Meat Industry Council for contributions to this item.