Low prices could soon kill off much of British beef supply

Supplies of British beef could begin to dry up within months unless prices paid by processors and consumers rise sharply, predicted the head of the National Beef Association (NBA).

Robert Forster, NBA chief executive, said: "I can not see how production of beef can continue anywhere near the level it is unless there is a rise in prices at the retail level." He predicted that many farmers -- who, he said, were being paid typically a third less than their production costs for beef -- would leave the market within months unless prices improved.

"We will see the first big tranche of those walking away from the autumn," he said. "I think there could be an exodus, a pretty big one, but not a mass exodus."

Forster said that the big multiple retailers recognised the problem. "They don't know what to do about it," he said.

The NBA, which was "not optimistic at all", is pinning its hopes in part on better origin labelling of high-quality British beef products to enable higher pricing. "This is absolutely crucial to how the industry must develop post-CAP reform," he said. "If more consumers were aware of the status and provenance of UK beef compared with imports from outside the European Union, and more effort was made to make sure they understood this, they would buy more of the home-made product."

The NBA, in a report with the Tenant Farmers' Association into links between farmers and consumers, also complained that state aid rules were interpreted too strictly, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs failing to support Britain's farmers or follow the lead of other European countries in marketing home-grown food. The report claimed that the French government recently funded a national week celebrating French food in schools, for example.