The impact of the fall in lamb prices is being felt by farmers across Europe and it is essential that EU farming organisations act as one to tackle it, said the NFU.
Speaking at the NFU Conference last week, livestock board chairman, Charles Sercombe, told delegates at a special livestock session that sheep prices and margins on sheep farms have been put under severe pressure due to the disrupted marketing season brought on by the weather and the challenge of cheap imports.
“This challenge is not just a UK issue, it is putting sheep farmers all over Europe under pressure and we are committed to standing with our European counterparts to address it,” said Sercombe.
He also outlined that following a UK farming unions summit last week, the organisations have called for European wide meetings in early March.
“We must promote lamb around the EU. But we must also look at the New Zealand lamb quota situation. The last real change to the quota was back in 1994 and the processing industry has made significant changes since then. It’s important the Commission looks at the value of imports coming into the EU and not just the tonnage.
“We’re calling on the European Commission to help promote lamb across the EU and address our concerns regarding the outdated quota regime.”
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.