Go local for sustainability
WALES is recognised as one the most sustainable places in the world to produce red meat such as lamb and beef.
Our livestock are raised non-intensively and on land which in most cases is not suitable to grow any other human-edible food.
Furthermore, the role that Welsh farmers play in looking after the environment, maintaining species rich habitats and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is something farmers have understood for years.
Food production and looking after the land go hand in hand, especially because we, as food producers, are subjected to all weather and are just as exposed as everyone else to climate change and the extremes it brings.
But are we not going to achieve what we set out to – reducing greenhouse gas emissions and feeding the nation – by supporting countries who produce food to standards that would be illegal in this country, or by importing food from thousands of miles away.
The UK is supposed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, yet our food system is vulnerable and dominated by complex global supply chains. As farmers we have the knowledge, skill, and willingness to produce sustainable food, in ways which work in harmony with the environment but we need to be allowed to do our job.
We have a great story to tell when it comes to Welsh lamb and beef, like our grass-based systems in water-rich environments. Rearing sheep and cattle in places like this, of which we have plenty in Wales, adds vastly less pressure on natural resources than might be the case for intensive farms supplied by feed grown in drier areas of the world.
If we want to save the environment and feed the nation, let’s focus on food that has been produced locally; food that has been produced in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way and at the same time support our rural communities and the economy.
It is therefore worth remembering that Wales’s lamb and beef sector supports substantial productive economic activity, which in turn nourishes vibrant communities. Any significant reductions in livestock agriculture would risk undermining this, as well as potentially off-shoring emissions to less sustainable systems abroad through increased food imports.