The Paris International Agricultural Show is a truly impressive event. Staged over nine days every year at one of the big event venues in central Paris, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors over that period. What I would add is that this is not simply a show for farmers, this is a show for the French, where what France produces is showcased at its best. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever been to in this country - it encompasses every aspect of rural life. Think the Highland or the Welsh Shows combined with the Good Food Show, an impressive education element for children of school age with a cat and dog show to boot! Happily for me, except for a combine harvester in the education building there was barely a machine in sight.
I made the trip with the AHDB Beef & Lamb team and a few farmers, diminished in number because the Beast from the East meant they could not physically get off farm. After a few travel issues we headed to the show and straight to the AHDB stand to meet the staff who work for the organisation in France.
We met Remi Fourrier, who leads a team of four staff from their base in a town called Fontainebleu just south of Paris. They focus their work on securing access to new markets for high quality UK beef and lamb, as well as defending well-established markets to make sure demand is maintained. They work specifically to stimulate demand for UK beef with as many consumers as possible and a focus on the product’s high quality.
AHDB Beef & Lamb work impressively to highlight the quality standard beef and lamb mark to French consumers via trade advertising, events and demonstrations, providing information in supermarkets, field marketing activities and consumer communication. I was very envious of the work they carry out on your behalf. If only the supermarket and levy body relationship were able to be the same here. The supermarkets would never be quite as accommodating as the big hypermarkets on the continent.
Remi then provided some background about why the team is in France. It’s a much bigger country with big areas of land that are pretty unproductive. There is little lamb produced in the flat parts of the country, simply because under the Common Agricultural Policy back in the 70s and 80s, subsidies in France were linked to crop and cattle production. Strangely though, the hypermarkets are located in areas where lamb is produced.
So, that makes plain their reliance on the UK for lamb. Also, the demand for prime beef can be explained because the French only eat dairy cow beef. If you’re on the hunt for prime beef in France, you won’t find that in a Carrefour or an Intermarche, you’ll need to find a butchers shop to indulge.
Following BSE in 96 and the FMD issues within theMercosur countries, imports are viewed by the French farmer as a pretty permanent threat regardless of their origin - hence the need for the work that AHDB do out there. And then the ‘elephant in the room’ appears in the form of Brexit! The French perception is that the British, having taken the decision to leave the EU, do not want to contribute to the CAP. I’m not sure that’s how I read the farmer vote here, I had a view it was to rid the industry of the complex rules and regulations. While taking that stance, at the same time they’re questioning the sanity of the British in having voted to leave the EU.
The quality standard mark linked to the St George brand is being used by AHDB to restore the image of beef, particularly post BSE and FMD as well as for the promotion of British lamb. Just as in the UK there are different variations on the same theme used by the different supermarkets.
It was interesting to note the difference in the cuts of meats available over there. Remi suggested that as well as fewer abattoirs having cutting plants in the UK, the French supermarkets want carcasses which they can cut in order to meet the demands of their consumer. Nearly 80% of trade is carcass based.
The promotion of British lamb making use of a ‘free range’ USP has not been received well given that 50% of lamb production takes place indoors. The most recent EU lamb campaign, jointly run by France, England and Ireland, contains an environmental element which Remi suggested would have to be carefully managed in France. The French consumer has little idea about French production systems. The key aim of this project is to promote lamb as an everyday meat, the production of which plays a vital role in rural areas. The target audience is the younger consumers in those countries. It’s a 10 million euro campaign which will run from 2018 to 2020.
For more information visit: www.tastyeasylamb.co.uk
AHDB also do a lot of work with the meat managers in the supermarkets - that’s not the meat buyers but those responsible for the shelves and what’s on them. The shelves in any French supermarket are dominated with chicken, pork and beef. Meats such as veal, lamb and horse meat struggle for position. These managers are engaged with regularly by the team at AHDB and encouraged to promote British lamb. AHDB produce a year book, for want of a better description, of all the managers, complete with biographies, who promote the lamb with the St George mark. They then present awards at an annual event in the St George Hotel in Paris.
We enjoyed beef and lamb for lunch, which was very tasty, if not a bit of the blue side of rare, and then had a look around the show. In my personal view some of the cattle in particular weren’t what my stock judging eye would call correct or indeed fit for purpose! There was what can only be described as a monster of a Charolais bull which was 1800kgs and stood almost two metres tall, with feet the size of side plates. The health and safety fraternity would have had a fit if he’d got loose in the show building - I’m not sure what might have happened. The breed clearly dominates given the numbers present in comparison with anything else.
Interestingly, Remi suggested that the show organisers are very patriotic and breeds such as the Angus and the Hereford are not allowed in the main ring. The best we can do is to have a few fine examples on the AHDB stand.
All in all a very interesting trip and we even managed to squeeze in a wander round the Eiffel Tower and watched the chaos at theChamps-Elysees before catching a delayed flight back, which happened to be the last that landed at Birmingham that particular day.