Australian Beef - A huge threat to U.K. farmers

animalsaustralia.org/issues/stop-cattle-cruelty.php

Thanks for that Vegan I didn’t imagine the Australia used growth hormones, wether it is a health risk or not, is going to be a big issue and consumer acceptance is going to be very influential. If hormone treated beef is allowed from anywhere then it will be coming from everywhere, including the US, there is going to be a bid reaction because nobody wants it.

It’s a big issue with the Australian government, hopefully we will not reduce our standards for anyone.

I think most Welsh lamb gets sold to France. Rarely in our Sainsbury’s or I’d buy it!

Australia deal. Fair enough. There will be a transition period so our farmers can adjust and find new markets. Locally hopefully (the lamb for example). Farmers markets?

No outcry when Poland joined the EU and sent us their meat!

If we can’t agree a deal with our cousins in the Commonwealth then who?

My stepfather’s first cousin owns family crofts in Wester Ross. ‘Money for old rope!’ as they say.

No wonder Ian Blackford wants to keep his crofter’s rights. He’s nae daft.

It looks like hormonal growth promotants are used in 40% of Australian cattle. www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/generalissues/hormonalgrowth/Pages/default.aspx

How to tell which is which, other than the 'hormone free' sticker, I don't know.

For me the bigger issue is live animal exports. That just shouldn't be allowed IMO.

What we do have here is space. Lots of it. So why would we bother factory farming beef? What a joke. We have vast cattle farms bigger than the whole of the UK..

nanna8

What we do have here is space. Lots of it. So why would we bother factory farming beef? What a joke. We have vast cattle farms bigger than the whole of the UK..

I drive past huge fields of cattle many days with huge amounts of space. I don't believe the factory farming thing unless I'm given some evidence.

To get Australian beef to the UK means a 13,000 mile trip in a frozen container. The UK farming industry ought to be able to compete with that, especially having regard to the fact that the full effect doesn't come in for 15 years - plenty of time to modernise its processes and increase efficiency. In the end, the consumer will decide which to buy.

Oh and of course, the biggest impact of an Australian Free trade deal will be on EU food producers who might be priced out of the UK market.

Australia don't just export beef and lamb, but oranges, nectarines, lemons, butter, grapes and of course wine!

Increasing efficiency means farming on a massive scale and, almost inevitably, reducing standards of welfare. The UK just does not have the land that Australia, the US or South America has.

For those who say they will only buy British beef, between 25 and 50% of meat eaten in the UK is in processed products or in canteen or hospital settings (it's been difficult to find the exact percentage), where it is not required to give the country of origin. It's all very well for people who can afford it saying they will pay extra for local produce, but that's not going to be the first priority for many parents with tummies to feed.

Where exactly are British farmers supposed to find new markets?

urmstongran UK farmers will be much worse hit than the EU, who have a huge internal market and can easily sell to others. I wonder what goodies we will be shipping thousands of miles to Australia.
Glad you think running a croft is money for old rope- I have relatives on Harris, the crofters have to have about 3 jobs to make ends meet, and everything has to be shipped there , so everything is more expensive, plus the weather is awful.

I agree growstuff (this is becoming a habit today!).

For the more affluent or those with a decent amount of disposable income at any rate, taste and quality, provenance will be the deciding factor in their food shopping.

For the less well off it will come down to cheapness and availability. Look at all the fast food chicken places on our high streets. Chicken burger anyone made with factory flesh and bits of goodness knows what else covered in a salty, fatty delicious tasting coating? 99p for a hot tasty bite. They sell well.

Harris seems a bad example then seamstress. The crofts I’m talking about are in Plockton. Great weather on the Gukf Stream. No ferry trips needed. Like comparing apples with pears.

Gulf. Fat fingers.

Simple figures

7%

versus

83%

Eh?
You are a tease Kali2.

growstuff I accept that choice for the poorest is not possible but all households with moderate means can afford good quality meat simply by eating less of it.

As you, yourself, said, we eat too much meat and we eat more than many other affluent countries. It requires only minor changes in diet to halve weekly consumption.

The best way to avoid eating poor quality low welfare standard meat when outside the home, is not to eat meat when out, unless the outlet offers provenance for its meat, which, for example, Waitrose does, and, if its adverts are to be believes, so does McDonalds, and others, or choose from the wide range of non-meat based meals that most restaurants, including most of the chains, offer.

Figures given by Emily Maitliss on Newsnight last night. Predictions of benefits of Deal with Australia.

7% for us, and 83% for them. Not very balanced- what do you think?

Katie59

Thanks for that Vegan I didn’t imagine the Australia used growth hormones, wether it is a health risk or not, is going to be a big issue and consumer acceptance is going to be very influential. If hormone treated beef is allowed from anywhere then it will be coming from everywhere, including the US, there is going to be a bid reaction because nobody wants it.

It’s a big issue with the Australian government, hopefully we will not reduce our standards for anyone.

Back in the mid-90's, we lived on a US base in Germany, and shopped at the "Commissary", where much of the meat on sale was flown/shipped in from the US. The "Omaha" beef in particular was absolutely delicious - and highly prized by all the Brits, Germans, Dutch, Belgians etc who flocked to buy it - in full knowledge of the hormone issue. Ironically, large notices throughout the store at the time assured all customers that absolutely none of the meat on sale came from the UK - where the Mad Cow Disease outbreak was in full swing. So I wouldn't be so sure that "nobody wants it"...

We need to educate our youngsters how to cook. Too many buy ready prepared meals which are expensive and often contain poor ingredients whose provenance is unknown. From a £12 local free range chicken I can get 8 meals and 10 portions of soup. Using organic lamb mince I can make Shepherd’s pie and chile con Carne at under £1 per person. There was a programme in a poor area where some were thrilled to discover what they could do for less.

A lot of our high quality pasture fed meat sells to a niche market at top rates. Those people are not going to be buying Australian meat but will continue as they are so I don’t think farmers producing top quality need to fear.

I have just read that at the moment 0.5% of Beef in the UK is Australian in the deal it is apparently going to triple so 1.5% of Beef from Australia...

"Youngsters" always sounds so patronising to me. There's some evidence that young people eat more healthily than the oldsters because more of them are veggie.

GrannyGravy13

I have just read that at the moment 0.5% of Beef in the UK is Australian in the deal it is apparently going to triple so 1.5% of Beef from Australia...

That sounds about right. I agree with you that the deal with Australian beef is not that important. I understand Australian farmers are more worried about tariff-free imports from the UK. Having said that, the deal is piffling compared with the lost EU trade.

I'm actually more concerned about any future US deal.