NFU24: Livestock – behind the sustainability buzzword

Those were the questions for the panel at an NFU24 livestock session that gave members the chance to meet members of a refreshed board for the next two years.

Outgoing chair Richard Findlay, who will step down after six years, saw sustainability as a vital selling point to differentiate British and imported product, especially in the wake of the early post-Brexit trade deals.

British red meat could not afford to be tarred with the same brush as product from elsewhere, but sustainability must not come at the expense of profitability, he said.

From Defra’s plans for methane-suppressing feed to increasing dairy beef, the figures had to stack up.

“Whilst we’re seeing more beef coming from the dairy sector, these animals must be properly reared, in good health and from the best possible genetics,” he said, adding that business and environmental win-wins were possible through efficiency.

“For me, there must ultimately be profit in what we produce, and that means hitting specification, focusing on age to slaughter, carcass weights and grades, but also managing inputs.”

He said bovine EID, and the Livestock Information Service could help to demonstrate standards, improve traceability and support disease control.

Sustainability on shopper’s radars

Morrisons director Sophie Throup explained that sustainability was on the radar for customers who wanted to be able to rely on retailers to “do their worrying for them”, investors with mandatory commitments on sustainability reporting and the business itself, for whom sustainability could additionally be a “manager of costs and efficiency”.

Clear targets on net zero needed

On sustainability, there was consensus on the need to coalesce around specific, science-backed carbon accounting and for a unified framework to the industry’s net zero efforts.

“We’re some of the best when it comes to sustainability, but to be the best we have to measure it and our figures have to be understood across the supply chain,” said David.

Hugh saw RUMA’s work on antimicrobial as a template.

“We need clear targets and as an industry we need to base it on the science. I walk around shows and see lines of cattle claiming they are ‘the sustainable breed’. Well show me the numbers, show me the data. Invest in that. Because we can’t on one hand say, ‘show us the science’ and on the other just carry on breeding them because we like their pretty ears.

“Carry on doing the good work you are doing, get more precise, measure - and tell everyone that you’re doing it.”

Sustainability meant more than just carbon for Oli and David, who called for wider benefits of grazing livestock to be factored in, while Andrew added that measurements must properly account for the relatively short-lived role of methane.

While there was broad support for farm assurance, Andrew said he and many others felt “let down” by Red Tractor’s approach to the Greener Farms Commitment.

“It’s caused so much anger, but we need to find an alternative, because we’ve lost time, and we desperately need something,” he said.

Learnings on bluetongue

With environmental and business sustainability so intrinsically linked, bluetongue was inevitably on the minds of many.

Having seen first-hand the situation in the Netherlands, Richard said: “The only practical way of preventing a large-scale spread next year is through vaccination. We need one to be brought to market as soon as possible and have support from government to ensure a targeted rollout.”

Hugh agreed, but added that farmers should also begin to think about the business impacts of any control zones, something that extended to the whole supply chain, with a need for licensed processors to be put in place to deal with animals.

Oli raised the possibility of abattoir testing to understand any potential spread of the disease faster.

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Meet the speakers from this session