Russell Pearson, from Bull Creek near McKinlay in Queensland’s northwest, has seen massive changes over the 30 years he has attended the Beef Expos in Rockhampton
WESTERN Queensland cattleman and organics industry pioneer Russell Pearson has passed away this week, aged 87.
Survived by his wife Trish and children James, David and Mandy, Mr Pearson was known as a character of the industry who did things his own way and thought outside the box.
After drawing Bull Creek, near McKinlay, in the late 1960s, the Pearson family business has grown to run 11,000 to 11,500 certified organic Santa Gertrudis cattle across three properties.
The Pearsons were some of the early movers into the organics industry, taking Terrick Terrick station at Blackall from a Merino sheep stud to a certified organic cattle property – forming a partnership with Arcadian Organic. Terrick was later sold to AAM.
Richard Rains, formerly of Sanger which originally owned Arcadian, said his relationship with Mr Pearson was more on a personal than a business level.
“Russell always did things his own way, he was very much his own man and he had a belief that organic was the way to go,” Mr Rains said.
“He was very determined to produce an organic product, which he did in volume and in quality. No one was more proud of their cattle weights and the way they hung up than Russell Pearson, he was very focused on his cattle.
“Arcadian grew up under the Sanger banner and the Pearson cattle were extremely important to Arcadian.”
While Arcadian is now owned by Hewitt Foods, the relationship between the Pearsons and Arcadian is still going today. Former Arcadian owner Alister Ferguson said Mr Pearson’s move into organic was integral to the development of the company.
“Right through that area, that was out of the tick line, there was always an opportunity for organics,” Mr Ferguson said.
“But it took people like the Pearsons converting over to organics to encourage a lot of the other guys to start doing it as well.
“You need those forward-thinking guys to look outside the square and participate in those new markets.”
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