Red meat, dairy and climate change: See where we've been in the media

2021

November

COP26

In response to US President Joe Biden's announcement that more than 80 countries have signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, NFU Cymru milk board chair Abi Reader appeared on Sky News to talk about the sustainability of British meat and dairy. 

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts was interviewed on BBC Farming Today (from 7'50), discussing a new CIWF report which says diets need to change to help the climate emergency. Stuart said that UK livestock farming is among the most efficient and sustainable in the world.

Farmers Day at COP26

It was a busy day of national media interviews on Farmers Day. NFU President Minette Batters was interviewed alongside the other farming union Presidents on Farming Today discussing farming's role in tackling climate change. All four Presidents highlighted the efficiency of UK livestock and the importance of livestock in sustainable food systems.

Following a press conference organised by the press team, the Press Association published a piece on the newswire highlighting the NFU's position that we don't need to reduce the size of beef and dairy herds to meet the UK’s methane targets. It features comments from the four UK farming union Presidents and was picked up by around 150 local newspapers, as well as national press including the Daily Mail and Evening Standard.

Writing in The Times, columnist Alice Thomson warned against a 'meat tax' which she says would encourage cheap imports. She quoted NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts who highlighted the impacts of climate change on farming.

October

The One Show

The NFU has written a formal letter of complaint to The One Show after the programme included a multitude of inaccurate and misleading statements in a film about food production and climate change. Prior to the film airing, the NFU press team had a detailed briefing with producers to outline the sustainability of British beef and dairy products. The team also set up interviews with NFU Vice President Tom Bradshaw, Staffordshire member Richard Bower and livestock board member David Barton, who demonstrated climate-friendly beef systems on his farm. However, the latter two were cut from the final edit.

The team is seeking an on-air correction of these misleading statements and a commitment for The One Show to produce another film that accurately reflects British livestock and dairy farming and its role in tackling climate change.

Sky's Daily Climate Show

In his first ever appearance on Sky’s Daily Climate Show, Stuart covered the day’s top climate stories, including lab-grown meat and limiting global warming to 1.5C. He was joined by Kate Blagojevic, Greenpeace UK's head of climate.

September

Organised by the NFU press team, The Guardian's environment editor Damian Carrington visited Herefordshire beef, sheep and cider apple farmer Rich Thomas to talk about regenerative agriculture and the potential for ELMs to help farmers move forward in their net zero ambition. Read the full article here.

August 

iNews kicked off the month with an article reporting that farmers have hit back at Ethan Brown, the boss of the plant-based food manufacturer Beyond Meat, who said a tax on meat would be beneficial in helping people reduce meat consumption. The NFU is quoted in the article reiterating that when people buy British meat they are buying sustainable, local food, produced in areas where it is difficult to grow other produce.

July

Henry Dimbleby's food strategy

Coverage of Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy kicked off the month of July, NFU President Minette Batters gave her reaction to the report alongside Justin King (formerly of Sainsbury’s) and Professor Tim Lang on BBC Radio 4. 

Minette also featured on Sky News' Breakfast show where she emphasised the importance of getting back to eating whole foods and cooking from scratch.

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts spoke to Farming Today where he also discussed the need to get balance back into our diets, net zero and support for farming through the transition period.

NFU meeting with Which?

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts has met with the Head of Consumer Rights and Food Policy at Which? after he and the press team wrote a private letter to the editor highlighting issues with its recently published guide to making more sustainable choices. The letter stressed that while it's good that the magazine is encouraging more sustainable choices, it was disappointing to see references to the global impact of meat production rather than focusing on how British meat is produced, especially given the British audience.

The meeting was constructive and multiple actions have been agreed to further explore opportunities to communicate the complexities of food systems to the British public.

May

Animal Welfare

NFU President Minette Batters had a letter published in the Times in response to their article “Cruel Country” (Apr 30). She said that the incidents mentioned in the article are in no way reflective of the tens of thousands of farms across the country where animal welfare is the main priority.

April

Meat export increase

NFU President Minette Batters was quoted in a Sun article discussing the need to build a British brand, this came following the news that sales of British beef are soaring worldwide with the meat growing more popular in Asia. Experts say the UK’s market with the US is also about to explode after the US ended a 24-year ban on British meat products. 

Blue Peter's green badge

Following a number of members contacting the NFU about Blue Peter’s green badge, which included a pledge to go ‘meat free’, the NFU’s press team contacted the production team behind the show to express our concerns about this.

In particular, we said it was disappointing how the programme hadn’t recognised the climate-friendly production methods used by British farmers and how British meat and dairy can be a sustainable choice.

As a result of this direct contact with Blue Peter, the team committed to updating its website to reflect that buying seasonal food or local, grass-fed meat is a sustainable choice as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

Blue Peter has also filmed with a young farmer on a Welsh farm recently where they will be talking about sustainable food production, animals’ diets and grassland. They are also covering food waste and soil health in future episodes.

It’s good to see the Blue Peter team take action on their website to amend the pledge and include references to the climate-friendly food produced by British farmers. The NFU will continue to engage with Blue Peter on this and other farming issues in the future.

Sustainable meat production

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts was quoted in a Daily Express article discussing sustainable and healthy meat production methods.

March

Dairy innovation

The One Show visited NFU members Mark and Zena Hinds in Derbyshire and Richard and Pam Kennerley in Congleton who are both innovating their farms shops with the installation of a milk vending machines. The piece also mentioned an NFU report on buying local during the pandemic. Watch from 23 mins 25 secs.

February

Carbon Tax

The Times published a letter from NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts outlining his thoughts on a proposed carbon tax and explaining his beliefs that British farmers produce some of the most sustainable meat and dairy products in the world.

The Telegraph also covered the issue with a quote from Stuart.

Elsewhere...

NFU President Minette Batters wrote exclusively for Speciality Food magazine. In her article she explained how it isn’t as simple as plant-based good / animal-based bad and how British farming produces high welfare, climate-friendly food.

Dairy farmer and NFU Cymru milk board chair, Abi Reader won Farmers Weekly 2020 Farming Champion of the Year- an award sponsored by the NFU. After Covid-19 hit the supply chain, Abi worked tirelessly lobbying for the Dairy Support Scheme for affected farmers in Wales. She did this while supporting other groups including the Welsh Dairy Farm Innovations Group, the South East Wales TB Eradication Board and the Cattle Vaccination Board.

January

Oatly advert

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts was on Farming Today alongside Oatly's chief sustainability officer, Ashley Allen, to discuss the Oatly advert which claimed that dairy and meat production is more damaging to the climate than the transport sector. Listen from 5 mins 14 secs

Sustainable diets

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts and member Joe Stanley were quoted in a Sky News report, as they discussed how British farmers are leading the way in climate-friendly food, working towards net zero food production by 2040. They reiterate that people can reduce greenhouse gas footprint by eating more sustainable local produce. 

2020

November

Farmers at the forefront of climate change

With two in five of the world’s plants at risk of extinction according to a new report by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, BBC Food reflects on the consequences for our food.

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts is quoted saying we’re getting more extreme events more frequently, and that’s because of climate change, and farmers are at the forefront facing into those weather events.

October

NFU complaint on BBC impartiality upheld

National media titles reported the NFU's official impartiality complaint in response to the BBC's Meat: A Threat to Our Planet  being upheld and the programme subsequently being removed from the iPlayer. The coverage carried NFU President Minette Batters' quote that UK grass-based systems are incomparable with the intensive feedlot style systems shown on the programme.

See full list of coverage:

• Telegraph
• The Times
• Daily Mail
• Farmers Weekly
• Farmers Guardian

September

Farmers Guardian dedicated a whole issue to net zero agriculture and NFU Student and Young Farmer ambassador Harriet Bartlett was featured in its Young Farmer Focus column in which she reflects on how she feels honoured to work with farmers towards a more sustainable future, collecting information from farmers and carrying out assessments to quantify their land use and impact on biodiversity, carbon footprint, animal welfare, and antibiotic use.

August

The Guardian reported new analysis by Greenpeace that suggests cows, pigs and other farm livestock in Europe are producing more greenhouse gases every year than all of the bloc’s cars and vans put together, when the impact of their feed is taken into account.

The NFU is quoted explaining why a focus on improving productivity is key to achieving net zero emissions, alongside maintaining and improving our storage of carbon in grassland and producing more renewable energy.

July

Meatless Farm launches new campaign

The Guardian reported a new campaign launching today from Meatless Farm, which  targets people who have cut down on meat during lockdown. NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts is quoted emphasising British farmers' net zero agriculture goal and the importance of eating quality, nutritious red meat as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

NFU Deputy President questions Enfield Council's approach to climate crisis

NFU Deputy President Stuart Roberts was interviewed on talkRADIO and told Mike Graham that Britain's livestock production system is one of the most sustainable in the world and questioned why the council did not consider its sourcing. 

January

CCC report on land use

The NFU's response featured widely across the media, with NFU President Minette Batters highlighted that that British farmers are part of the solution to climate change on BBC Radio 4 Today (from 54 mins) and BBC 5Live Drive giving her reaction.

BBC Farming Today covered the report and spoke to NFU director of policy Andrew Clark, who said that reducing the amount of land used for production would be counterproductive as our grassland act as a valuable store of carbon.

The Mrs Batters' comments that emissions from UK beef are half the global average as well were also widely picked up by national newspapers.

Veganuary

NFU Cymru milk board chairman Abi Reader took on George Monbiot in Channel 4's Apocalypse Cow documentary which aired on 8 January, and she featured in Financial Times as well as BBC World Service’s Business Matters programme on the impact of veganism on farming alongside NFU President Minette Batters who added that a plant-based diet “should not masquerade as the only solution to climate change”. 

NFU Vice President Stuart Roberts was quoted in The Times responding to new figures showing an 18% rise in sales of meat-alternatives. He said that people should look behind the label, and question where and how it has been produced. NFU member James Small was also interviewed on Sky News where he stressed that home-grown red meat plays a key part in a healthy, balanced diet.