‘We need to do more to make lamb the number one choice’
Last week saw “Love Lamb Week” take place which aimed to encourage consumers and retailers to back PGI Welsh and British lamb. It was also an opportunity to showcase one of our country’s most iconic products.
Love Lamb Week is a UK-wide initiative led by Levy Bodies across the UK including Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) here in Wales. It encourages producers, retailers, restaurants and the public to show their support for PGI Welsh and British lamb by promoting the product in stores and sharing lamb recipes on social media.
It was refreshing to see so many positive posts on social media promoting our fantastic product and it was great to see that many of our major retailers signed up to the initiative. PGI Welsh Lamb is something that we are extremely proud of producing here in Wales and our high animal welfare and production standards are second to none. It was also a great opportunity for us to promote the nutritional values of red meat as part of a healthy balanced diet.
Perhaps what we often forget is
how versatile a meat lamb can be, whilst you cannot beat a roast lamb dinner, there are plenty of other ways you can use lamb in meals throughout the week. It’s not just as meat for a Sunday lunch. Lamb chops, lamb curry and slow cooked lamb pancakes are just a few other ideas of how you can include lamb in your everyday diets and there were plenty of recipes and meal ideas shared on social media over the last week.
Sheep also play a key role in shaping and maintaining the iconic countryside enjoyed by the Welsh public and the large number of tourists that visit the countryside each year. Around three-quarters of Welsh farmland is grassland and less suited to growing other crops. It is a fact that in Wales we are blessed with the natural resources to produce the best quality protein in the form of PGI Welsh lamb and beef from grass.
Our sheep are grazing pastures that are also conserving important carbon sinks in our hills and are grazing fields in our uplands and lowlands that are surrounded by hedgerows and trees that are sequestering carbon.
In an ever-changing political landscape we are still none the wiser as to what will happen post-Brexit and last week’s events in Westminster have only added to the uncertainty. The Welsh sheep sector is under severe threat from a “no-deal” Brexit. Each year around one third of the lamb produced in Wales is exported to the EU. In the event of a no-deal these exports would be subject to a 48% tariff, this would effectively close down our exports and is why I believe a no-deal Brexit will have catastrophic implications for our proud industry.
However this threat should focus our attention on continuing to champion PGI Welsh Lamb here in Wales and across the UK. We need to keep the momentum of Love Lamb Week going throughout the autumn and beyond making sure that PGI Welsh Lamb is the number one choice for the consumer. I look to our retailers, our independent butchers, ours pubs and restaurants to continue to ensure that Welsh Lamb is front and centre on retail shelves and menus the length and breadth of the UK.
Government also has a role to play and I believe that there are some immediate actions that they can take to support increased sales of Welsh and British produce. It’s essential that we see full country of origin labelling on all meat products including in the food service sector, consumers need clear labelling so they can make informed choices on what they eat. I also want to see Welsh and British product sourced for all government procurement contracts, our schools, hospitals and armed services should be fed on our world beating produce, and I want guarantees from the UK Government that any imports to this country are produced to exactly the same standards as our own.
At a time of such great uncertainty we need to pull together as a country and ensure that we all back Welsh farming.