A farmer who says she's sustainably raising cattle for individual customers says New Zealanders have got to look at what they're doing to the planet.
Seven Sharp reported Taryn Lunny has no shortage of customers at her small farm, Misty Meadows, 25 minutes from central Auckland.
She came back from the UK five years ago, inspired by iconic British TV food show River Cottage.
Ms Lunny said the show's host, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, "got people out for a weekend to find out where their food came from, to teach them about it and to let them taste it".
"And I kind of figured, why couldn't you go one step further?"
She spent the first two years on her farm "cleaning out the paddocks because they had car parts, trampolines and God knows what in".
Her model is about giving urbanites the chance to be involved from paddock to plate.
"You give me money, I get a calf for you, I raise it bio-dynamically over two years. And you do have to come and visit your calf, and at least open gates and see how its getting on in its lifetime. And you get it back as meat," Ms Lunny explained.
Bio-dynamic means "you use no chemicals at all, you put back in the earth what you take out," she added.
"You've just got to look at the planet. We've got to look at what we're doing to the planet."
Customers get enough meat to feed a family of four for a year, for $4000 plus GST, and a couple of visits.
"I'm passionate about [the fact] that these animals are loved until the day they get a bullet in the head. And that is done in a manner where they don't even know that it has happened," Ms Lunny said.
Her customers and friends agree she's onto something good.
"I'm fast running out of sausages for my friends," she said.
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