A PUSH to depopulate the countryside of livestock in pursuit of carbon credentials will increase dependence on imported beef.

This warning came from the National Beef Association’s Neil Shand who argued that the UK’s suckler herd alone cannot meet UK demand for beef, with 400,000 tonnes – equivalent to 1.4 million cows – imported into the UK each year.

He stressed that there will always be a market for imported beef in the UK to meet this gap in domestic production but stressed that the focus must be on creating a point of difference between domestic and imported beef, to ensure UK farmers are rewarded a premium for their produce.

“We must not export our environmental responsibilities,” said Mr Shand. “The solution lies with increasing home-grown beef production and decreasing our reliance on environmentally-catastrophic imports.”

During an industry update, Mr Shand gave an insight in to how the beef industry had faired during the pandemic.

“We went in to Covid off the back of the worst year for profitability in the beef system. Prices were rumbling about £3.35 per kilo – it had been consistently poor for a long time.”

During the first two weeks following the first lockdown he reported that £60 was lost off the value of a beef carcase.

“In the early weeks, the price was squeezed, and we were scared about carcase balance, but when imports stopped coming into the country the carcase balance fitted perfectly,” he continued.

“As we move out of Covid there will be no concerns around carcase balance and farm gate prices will remain high,” he said, adding that as of April 1, beef producers could expect £0.80 more per kilogram than the same week last year and with food services due to reopen, he expects this could reach £4.50 by the end of May.

Mr Shand remarked that the beef industry has had a 'tremendous year' and one of the reasons for this was due to the Polish mince scandal last Spring.

“Two major retailers took in Polish mince due to a scarcity and customers rejected it on the retail shelves. This was a driving force for Asda committing to sourcing only GB/UK beef in all products – it was a PR own goal.”

He also applauded the efforts of levy boards in ramping up education campaigns to encourage more people to feature beef on their culinary menus.

Looking ahead to COP26 in Glasgow, he stressed that the UK has an opportunity to showcase how beef production can feed in to climate change ambitions but urged for the devolved nations to work together on a joint-approach.

“I’m concerned we will have a Westminster model for beef production and a separate one for Holyrood," he continued. "Westminster committed to the Paris agreement to reduce our carbon footprint and I think it should be the one to lead on this,” adding his fears of a fractured approach by all four devolved nations.

“Beef production should be done under one banner and devolved countries should remember that their biggest customer is England. 60 to 70% of all beef produced in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland ends up in England and should end up on a shelf under the same production schedule or as close to it as possible,” he concluded.