Family Philosophy

Australian country choice embodies quality, integrity and ethical care for its animals and the environment. For managing director David Foote, it also means ‘family’.

- Lisa Schofield

The journey started from businessman and Queensland politician Norm Lee’s first rural property purchase at Roma, Queensland, in the 1960s, as a part of HJ Lee & Sons, and soon became the dream of Norm’s son, Trevor.

Operating as Australian Country Choice (ACC), today this third-generation beef raising and food processing company is recognised as the world’s largest family-owned vertically integrated beef supply chain and a global leader in beef production. “Everything built and achieved is an extension of the family’s original passion for the land,” reflects Managing Director David Foote.

With 2.42 million hectares of land across more than 30 locations in Queensland, ACC breeds and backgrounds up to 280,000 cattle each year to supply its three feedlots and one processing facility. The group’s operations range from cattle seedstock production, breeding, backgrounding and lotfeeding to beef primary processing, retail packing, distribution and export to 20-plus countries. ACC’s modern meat processing facility has a capacity of 350,000 head per annum with an operating capacity to produce a carton of meat every two seconds.

While specialising for 30 years in grain-fed, grain-finished cattle for the Australian supermarket trade, the company has begun diversifying into higher-quality, long-fed cattle such as Wagyu and Black Angus.

David has been in the agribusiness sector for nearly 40 years, joining ACC in 1998 when personally approached by owner Trevor Lee. The success of the company must be attributed in part to this 20-year partnership, affectionately known as ‘The Trev and Dave Show’.