Sainsbury IT scheme to lower British beef costs

Launching the Farm Connections Scheme last month, chief executive Justin King said it would enable farmers to exchange information with their supply chain partners and so help drive down costs.

"I am convinced that the project will make a positive difference to our producers, including providing information relating to customer habits and trends, and significantly help them in their businesses."

According to Sainsbury, industry figures suggest that livestock producers lag a long way behind other industries in being IT enabled. Only 20% of UK farmers use IT to manage their businesses, the company said.

Under its scheme, beef producers would be taught the basics of computers and e-mail and the internet. Once they had the confidence to move on, they would be introduced to business improvement packages, such as farm accounts, record keeping, benchmarking and buying and selling on the internet.

Martin Grantley Smith, general manager of the Red Meat Industry Forum, which is partnering Sainsbury in the project, said beef producers would be able to use IT to help them see beyond the farm gate and take a "whole chain" approach to their businesses.

"This initiative has been developed to identify ways to improve efficiency and competitiveness of red meat supply chains," he said.

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