The Northern Ireland Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) has completed its activities for the 2021/2022 financial year, indicating that red meat sales from NI to the rest of the UK amount to £1 billion.
The LMC generates an annual turnover of approximately £2.6 million.
Levies paid on all slaughtered cattle and sheep by both farmers and processers across Northern Ireland represent one of the organisation’s two main income streams.
The fees paid by the 12,000 members of the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (NIBLFQAS) constitute the other main source of funding for LMC.
“It has been a very busy 12 months,” LMC chief executive, Ian Stevenson confirmed.
“During this period, the commission has managed to successfully develop the range of services that it provides to the farming community and other stakeholder organisations.
“Our core aim is to undertake a range of marketing-related and other development activities that deliver real value for money to all our levy payers.”
The last 12 months have seen very significant political and economic decisions taken that will fundamentally impact on the development of beef and sheep production in Northern Ireland over the coming years.
The passing of bespoke climate change legislation and the formulation of post-Brexit support measures for agriculture are two of the most significant issues that have galvanised opinion both within and outside of agriculture over recent months.
Stevenson said: "The services that we provide are always evolving in ways that reflect changes in consumer choice and the needs of our levy payers.
“Communicating clear and unambiguous messages to the entire gamut of consumer and industry groups that LMC interacts with is at the heart of this process.
"The early months of this year were marked by a strategic advertising campaign, profiling the benefits of red meat in the diet. This adds to the momentum created by earlier campaigns," Stevenson added.
“Increasingly, we are making very effective use of social media to communicate effectively with targeted consumer groups factually important messages about beef and lamb, sustainability, food quality, health and nutrition.
“The good news for LMC levy payers is that all of this work is delivering in terms of delivering a very strong and positive message to consumers. Independent analysis has consistently confirmed this to be the case.”
Red meat quality assurance
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (NIBLFQAS). In very simple terms, the scheme is underpinning the access that beef and lamb from Northern Ireland enjoys on the Great Britain market.
“Red meat sales from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK amount to £1 billion on an annual basis,” stressed Stevenson.
“Our beef and lamb products enjoy total parity of esteem with produce from England, Scotland and Wales. One of the most obvious examples of how NIBLFQAS is working to support local beef and sheep producers is its full recognition by all the UK supermarkets.
“NIBLFQAS is unique across the UK in being funded by participating farmers and processors... the farm quality assurance criteria continue to evolve with changing industry and consumer expectations."
According to Stevenson, the farm quality assurance scheme is also helping to secure the strongest possible foothold in Northern Ireland, a market that is worth £200 million to local livestock farmers and processors.
“And the same principle holds when it comes to securing new outlets for locally produced beef and lamb outside the UK," he further explained.
“These markets currently generate around £300 million of sales on an annual basis. The potential to grow this business is immense. But fundamentally, buyers will primarily want to do business on the back of the independent accreditation delivered by NIBLFQAS.”
Sustainability
In terms of the sustainability credentials of red meat in NI, the LMC is involved in the work to have Northern Ireland included in the bid to have the European Union officially recognise a protected geographical indication (PGI) for Irish grass fed beef for the whole island of Ireland.
“This is very much a technical and legal process. LMC has worked with local stakeholders to gather evidence that has enabled Defra [Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] to register an official, but constructive, opposition notice to the initial PGI application submitted by the Irish government," Stevenson said.
“Taking this approach allows Brussels to officially consider the case for Northern Ireland to be included within the geographic parameters recognised by the proposed PGI.
“Once Brussels considers the opposition, it will hopefully be a relatively straightforward process to develop an all-island specification, given that all the relevant parties are in agreement on this matter.”
The head of the LMC said that acquiring accurate data will help drive decision making across a number of important policy areas into the future.
“The good news is that NIBLFQAS procedures can be quite easily amended to make this a reality," Stevenson said.
