Beef producers say no to increased optimism

The Scottish Beef Cattle Association described the 14 per cent drop in income of beef farms in less favoured areas as “a real concern.”

According to the SBCA, any current upbeat view in the sector generated by record high prices for store and finished cattle will rapidly disappear with the cold reality of the next farm accounts. These figures would, it claimed, demonstrate that costs of production have wiped out any hope of better profits.

SBCA development officer Brian Simpson said the figures proved there was an urgent need to consider how the beef sector in Scotland could reverse the trend.

“As a first step, the proposals for Common Agricultural Policy reform needs to proactively support the beef sector,” he said. “A strong beef sector is not just beneficial to less favoured area beef farmers but it is also essential to support arable farming as a main buyer of cereals.”

Simpson also pointed to the beef links with dairy farmers as they could get up to a quarter of their income from cast cow sales and dairy beef.

“And store cattle are an important part of many low ground farming systems recycling nutrients and building fertility,” he said.

There were also a large number of jobs both up and down the food chain linked to beef production and this reinforced the claim the clear case for future support to be targeted on the beef sector, he said.

SBCA president John Cameron chipped in, commenting that specialist beef farms played a major role on less favoured area farms and the fact was that over 80 per sent of Scotland’s land mass was in that category.

“We must consider the potential role of beneficial regional differentiations in the forthcoming revision of the CAP,” he said.