The initial findings of an independent report into the state of the beef industry, ordered as a result of plummeting market prices, were revealed at the Royal Welsh Show today.
“The beef sector in Wales and across Britain is going through a difficult period, with farmers receiving up to £300 less per beast than they were just a year ago,” said Gwyn Howells, Chief Executive of Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales which commissioned the independent report.
“While the interim report is very much a work in progress, it does put forward a range of concepts which need to be investigated further.”
Among the findings are:
- Increase intervention to improve fairness between various parts of the industry – farmers, processors and retailers;
- Suckler cows yield top quality beef and provide agri-environmental benefits because cattle are crucial in maintaining the landscape – this in turn underpins the tourist sector in Wales;
- Explore the possibility of using future Rural Development Funds to provide targeted support to help maintain suckler cow numbers;
- Develop contracted, co-ordinated action between producers, processors and retailers to satisfy customer demands;
- Ensure healthy competition between complete supply chains, rather than between various stages of the same supply chain;
- Achieve premiums for higher provenance, suckler bred beef with better take-up of systems that significantly lower the cost of production;
- Develop co-ordinated market oriented beef supply chains.
“It’s important to stress that these are the initial suggestions and are put forward to stimulate further debate before the report is published in the autumn,” said Mr Howells.
“It is obvious that action must be taken to assist the industry in this country. This is essential if we are to maintain a critical mass of beef production to guarantee the continued availability of top quality Welsh Beef to the consumer.
“I hope that farmers, processors, retailers and anyone else with the interests of the Welsh beef industry at heart will share their views with HCC and with the report’s authors in the weeks ahead.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
