Sussex farmers welcome plans to lift USA’s 32year lamb ban
Plans to lift a decades-old ban on British lamb imports to the United States has been welcomed by members of the West Sussex farming community.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the news on Thursday while in the USA for talks with President Joe Biden – an official announcement is still awaited.
The ban, which Mr Johnson labelled ‘totally unjustified’, stretches back to 1989 and was linked to outbreaks of BSE. A ban on British beef imports to the US was lifted last September.
West Sussex farmers welcomed the news this week– but some warned exporting would not be without its challenges.
A National Farmers’ Union spokesman said: “It’s excellent to hear that the Prime Minister and his government are working with the United States to lift this ban.
“British lamb is a fantastic, sustainable product that is recognised around the world for its quality and we know there is demand for it in the US.
“This is exactly the sort of export opportunity in a new market that the government should be pursuing and is something we strongly support.”
According to the NFU’s South East branch, there are more than 100,000 on West Sussex farms, according to the latest Defra figures.
The majority of sheep production in the South East is concentrated in Sussex and Kent, it said.
Tenant farmer Caroline Harriott, of Lychpole Farm, Sompting, said the absence of an official announcement meant details were like a sheep – ‘a little bit fluffy’.
But she said: “It is really good news that America wants to do business and it sends out a good message to the world.”
West Sussex was once awash with abattoirs, in places including Arundel, Pulborough and Horsham, but now farmers sending lambs to slaughter had to travel further afield, such as to Heathfield and Guildford.
Caroline said ‘red tape and bureaucracy’ were largely to blame for the infrastructure issue but said farmers could work collaboratively if they wished to take advantage of export opportunities.
For now though, she said the government’s focus should be on helping farmers to feed its citizens and improve the nation’s self-sufficiency.
She added: “We want to be feeding this country as it’s got to be far better to have less of a carbon footprint and providing food to this country, rather than sending it half way around the world.
“If we have an excess, then fantastic.”
Gwyn Jones, Tillington farmer and Gazette columnist, welcomed the news. See his column in full on page 16.
He said: “There is interest in British sheep genetics in the USA as well as high-quality meat, but it’s not a big lamb market.
“However the AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) levy body say that it could be worth £37million in the first five years of trade.”
Since the ADHB’s estimation last year, the price of lamb has further increased to record highs across the United States, the NFU said, making it ‘all the more important and valuable to gain access as soon as possible’.