Australian Organic Meats Group is a partnership between two long-standing farming families with a strong history in organic and sustainable agriculture.
The Tully and O'Leary Families each represent over 100 years of farming history in Australia and are foundation members of the Australian organic movement.
Our families have demonstrated that farming needs to be run in connection with our natural environment. We value integrity, loyalty, reliability, and our rural history.
AOM Group's reputation of providing consistent high-quality products comes down to our long-standing partnerships along the supply chain. We believe every partnership we form with our network of producers is the key reason why we can offer a great range of products for our valued consumers.
Simone & Shane Tully
“We are leading by example to make a positive contribution to Australian Agriculture. We believe Organic food production will play a pivotal role as global consumer demand for organic food continues to rise.”
Simone and Shane Tully are born and bred into agricultural families.
The Tully’s are well-known Australian outback pioneers who settled sheep and cattle stations throughout Western Queensland from the 1840s.
The story of the Tully, Durack, and Costello families has been well documented in ‘Kings in Grass Castles’ by Mary Durack. Simone’s family has been farming wheat since the early 1900s. Her upbringing was mostly on cattle properties located on Queensland’s Western Downs.
In the early 1990s, Shane and Simone took on Bingara Station, a 240,000-acre sheep and cattle station in far Western Queensland.
It was from there that Simone began developing her interest in organic production systems and marketing. She has been pioneering the growth in global exports and building supply chain relationships for the Australian organic industry ever since.
Simone and Shane now own and operate an 8,000 acre certified organic property on the Queensland and New South Wales border. Being located just 340 km west of Brisbane allows Simone to catch up with children in boarding school while conducting business for Australian Organic Meats.
Simone and Shane’s passion for providing great organic products and delivering within a professional, reliable supply chain has been critical to the rapid growth of the business.
Simone has continued her education and leadership roles in the organic industry. In recognition of her achievements in growing the organic export industry, Simone was awarded an industry scholarship by the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard in 2000. She participated in the Rabobank Executive Primary Producer Program after being sponsored by the University of Queensland. She has since completed a Graduate Certificate of Management from Deakin University under the MBA program.
Simone held a directorship with the Organic Federation of Australia, Australia’s peak organic industry council and in 2018 was recognised in the AFR Women of influence.
Matt & Julie O'Leary
“We are constantly striving to build on what our parents, grandparents and great grandparents started — improve the land, take care of our animals and run a sustainable farming business.”
The O’Leary family first settled in the Elong district in 1902.
Matt’s great grandfather, Daniel, started the traditions of mixed farming using conventional farming methods, which continued through the generations.
It was in 1987 that Matt, a fourth-generation farmer, and his father, Denis, first visited an organic farm. They were excited with what they discovered and that visit became the catalyst to move towards a sustainable agricultural system.
They received A Grade Organic Certification in 1989 and are often referred to as pioneers in the organic industry.
Time has proven that it was a very sound and significant decision. Eliminating chemicals and artificial fertilisers have significantly improved the general health of the animals, the soil, and family members.
The O’Leary family saw organic as the way of the future. Their drive and passion for using sustainable farming practices shows their commitment to producing cleaner and greener food and taking care of the environment.
The wholesaling operation started taking shape and in 1990, as demand was growing for the O’Leary produce, Australian Organic Meats emerged.
Australian Organic Meats was the very first in the world to achieve Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) certification for organic livestock.
The Group was also the first to comply with the standards set out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan for the production of organic beef.
There was a huge opportunity for supplying top-quality organically produced meat. Matt and Julie, together with Matt’s parents, Denis and Margaret, continued to expand their enterprise and commenced first exports in 2001.
The Organic industry continues to mature and consumer demand continues to grow across all sectors.