AHDB’s £50,000 beef funding refusal reopens levy board debate
Questions are again being raised over whether farmers’ levies are being spent to best effect.
A controversial decision to reject a £50,000 funding application aimed at boosting sales of suckler beef has reignited the debate over the best way to promote British meat.
AHDB Beef and Lamb turned down a £50,000 proposal to fund work undertaken by the farmers’ group Ladies in Beef, saying better value for money would be obtained by using in-house resources rather than an external marketing agency.
The decision raises questions over who is best placed to promote British beef, and what sort of form that promotion should take. It also raises questions about who should have the final say on how to spend money raised from a compulsory levy on farmers.
See also: Analysis: What will AHDB levy spending review mean for farmers?
The Ladies in Beef request included £25,000 for core publicity costs and £25,000 for a “Save Our Sucklers” consumer campaign (see “Ladies in beef believe key to success is quality, not commodity”, below). After meeting to discuss the plans last month, the AHDB Beef and Lamb board decided it would be better to use its own in-house resources to do the work.
In-house marketing
Rather than handing over the money, or commissioning an external agency, the board decided to offer Ladies in Beef in-kind help from its own team – including communications, resource production and marketing.
The decision came as a blow to the 150 female farmers who make up Ladies in Beef. Working on a small budget, they claim a strong track record of harnessing the media, reaching more than 18 million consumers – including Countryfile, The Sun and the Daily Mail – in the past two years.
To make matters worse, the funding refusal came as Ladies in Beef was gearing up for a consumer-based “Nurtured by Nature” campaign to boost suckler herd prospects ahead of Great British Beef Week, which runs from 23 April to 2 May.
It is the first major test of the levy body’s authority since Stuart Roberts quit as AHDB Beef and Lamb chairman last August, amid suggestions the government was refusing to approve a farmer-funded “mini-roast” marketing campaign.
Final say
In his resignation statement, Mr Roberts – a Hertfordshire beef producer – said he believed farmers rather than government ministers should have the final say on how levy money was spent. “Agricultural levies belong to farmer and processor levy payers,” he said.
So far, nobody has openly suggested that pressure was put on AHDB Beef and Lamb to reject the Ladies in Beef proposal this time round. But some producers feel that the levy body is once again failing to deliver the sort of timely promotion that many farmers want – a charge AHDB denies.
Ladies in Beef says it fully supports dairy beef supply chains and the need to maintain volume in the marketplace. But it also argues that suckler beef is undervalued because there is very little product differentiation within a processing sector where “beef is beef is beef”.
AHDB Beef and Lamb is now chaired by Worcestershire farmer Adam Quinney. He says the organisation has the necessary in-house expertise to support Ladies in Beef, and argues that the sector board is successfully adding value to beef, too.
“It was felt by the board that we could offer better value for money by supporting in-kind with expertise through our communications know-how rather than specifically allocating levy spend to the campaign,” Mr Quinney explains.
“Our approach to this kind of request needs to be consistent and we have already changed the way we support the Mutton Renaissance campaign, for example, by bringing support in-house rather than using levy funds to pay an agency to do it.”
Ladies in Beef says its £50,000 request was equivalent to just 1.5p an animal and offered extremely good value. But AHDB insists that the beef and lamb board must demonstrate return on all investment, while also being transparent about exactly how and where beef and lamb levy money is spent.
Adding value
Mr Quinney says it was right to bring promotional support in-house rather than farm it out to someone else. “We have a huge amount of talent in our organisation, offering a wide skill set across communications, technical and marketing,” he adds.
“We believe it is through this we can add most value to Ladies in Beef. This might include activities such as communications support, help in producing resources and ensuring the group’s activity aligns with our current campaigns.
“We already have significant promotional activity to support the beef industry using levy funds, including the beef mini roast campaign, which features prominent TV advertising to showcase beef to consumers across the UK.”
The next move will see AHDB Beef and Lamb meet Ladies in Beef in the coming weeks to discuss where support can be used most effectively. An AHDB Beef and Lamb board member has already been appointed to act as a dedicated point of contact for Ladies in Beef.
In the meantime, Ladies in Beef is ramping up its promotional activity on social media. “Only 83 days to the start of Great British Beef Week 2016,” it tweeted on 1 February. “Help us make it the best ever.”
Ladies in Beef believes the key to success is quality, not commodity
Ladies in Beef says its “Save our Sucklers” campaign will improve prospects for traditional producers by promoting sales of quality grass-fed beef to consumers.
At 1.57 million animals, Britain’s suckler breeding herd is at its smallest since the late 1980s. Herd numbers have fallen by more than 230,000 head over the past decade and by 140,000 cows during the past four years alone, says Ladies in Beef co-founder Jilly Greed.
“That’s an awful lot of empty fields. Sadly there is an industry acceptance that suckler beef is in terminal decline due to poor returns and market and supply chain failures. We just cannot let this happen without fighting for a more stable future.”
Most consumers assume British beef comes from grass-based, traditional suckler beef herds, says Ms Greed. Yet the majority is now a by-product of the dairy herd.
“We have to up our game and increase consumer awareness of why suckler beef is special,” she says.
Save our Sucklers aims to differentiate beef that is produced using an extensive grass-based, traditional system of milk and grass as a quality product. With the right branding, the hope is for a resurgence in UK suckler beef production and for profitable returns.
Rather than promoting suckler beef as a commodity meat, Ladies in Beef says it would be better to highlight the health, animal welfare and environmental benefits of traditional, naturally raised suckler beef – as well as its importance to the British countryside.
AHDB meat campaign focuses on lesser-known cuts
AHDB Beef and Lamb has approved a variety of consumer activities for beef over the coming year, which it says will benefit farmers and processors through increased sales.
Promotions will include a summer trade focus on beef kebabs, burgers and steak bar products, featuring less expensive steaks such as the tri-tip and Denver – cuts of meat which are perhaps better known in the US than in the UK.
The levy sector body says its latest promotional activity stems from AHDB’s new product development work. It says this seeks to add value to the carcass by using seam butchery techniques to produce and market lesser-known cuts of meat.
Simply Beef and Lamb has been working with actress Fay Ripley – famous for her role in TV show Cold Feet – to promote the mini roast, with the work reaching more than 12 million people so far. It follows mini-roast TV advertising that ran in November and December last year.
In addition, a promotional campaign this February and March will encourage consumers to include beef casserole and stewing cuts – such as beef dice, shin or braising steak – in their weekly family cooking repertoire.
AHDB Beef and Lamb says its meat elite programme is also continuing to work with opinion-forming journalists and bloggers to provide them with insights, trends and expertise that they would otherwise find difficult to access.