A leading farming organisation has argued that the positive environmental impact of beef farming is not getting enough appreciation.
The National Beef Association (NBA) said it was “alarmed” at the lack of knowledge of the benefits beef production in the UK offers, and is concerned that academics and scientific advisers show a bias against beef production without being fully informed about the sector and how it works.
It said there was a “lack of knowledge” and a “fundamental misunderstanding” of industries that affect the beef cattle industry, not just by academics but other specialists who are advising the UK government on food security, climate change, and other important issues.
Top scientific advisers are still quoting greenhouse gas emission figures that have since been amended by scientists and academics alike after discovering fundamental mistakes in their calculations, the NBA argued.
The call comes after Professor Sir John Beddington, the government’s chief scientist, last week told a group assembled by the Government to discuss future UK and world food supply problems, that it took 11,000 litres of water to produce a single beefburger.
The NBA said that, while this may be the case globally, looking at it in a UK perspective, it takes just 67 litres of piped water to produce 1kg of beef.
NBA director Kim Haywood said: “The association is sure that production of beef in the UK can contribute positively to future food security as well as deliver a number of important environmental, ecological, and public health benefits.
“To do this effectively though, we need the leading advisers to ensure they are up to date with their information and are aware of the positive story that is needs to be told, rather than simply repeating out of date figures that bear little resemblance to the current situation in this country.
“This undermines the integrity of beef production because the association has seen first hand that it is accepted, without challenge, by the great majority of academics and scientists that advise our government.”
Rises in the price of food are driving a substantial shift in the way consumers buy and think about food in the UK, claim the Crop Protection Association.
New research finds that in response to increases in the cost of food, UK consumers are changing their weekly shopping habits to balance the household budget and are becoming more informed and concerned about the global factors affecting current food prices and the security of food supply for future generations.
TV presenter Adam Henson has revealed that he has received hate mail, including threats to his children, from animal welfare extremists because of his comments on bovine TB. Mr Henson has investigated the disease, which has affected his own Gloucestershire farm, in depth on the BBC’s Countryfile programme. He has now told a farming conference in Cornwall how the features have sparked threats from ‘very nasty extremists’.
