Single body with something to beef about

A NEW single body, the Scottish Beef Association, could be in place by mid-summer to represent Scotland’s 8,000 beef farmers after a meeting yesterday between board members of the two existing organisations.

At the meeting, under independent chairman John Ross, five board members from the Scottish Beef Cattle Association and five from the National Beef Association Scotland agreed to the formation of a new “single, independent, autonomous body”.

Both sets of board members had approval for a merger from their full memberships after a meeting earlier this year brought some reconciliation to a rivalry that had been bad-tempered and acrimonious for several years.

Ross, chairman of the Moredun Foundation, where yesterday’s more detailed meeting was held, and an elder statesman of Scottish farming, said after it: “As someone who is completely independent, I was asked to try and facilitate formation of an independent body.

“Agreement has been reached on that and we’re now going on to look at the detail of how and when the new body can start work. We could be looking at Highland Show time.”

If that happens it will conclude an unhappy, but archetypal, Scottish schism involving relatively small factions since the Scottish Beef Cattle Association was formed as a breakaway group from the National Beef Association – which covers the UK – several years ago.

The main reasons given for the breakaway were dissatisfaction at Scotland’s apparent share of NBA resources and allegations of mismanagement, including financial, by UK headquarters.

But it was clear there was also, and euphemistically, a clash of personalities and some big egos about who had a say. The result was two small organisations with limited funds and modest memberships – each has about 600-700 members – trying to represent about 8,000 producers of Scotch beef worth about £300 million a year.

There is a further confusion in that, in spite of all disagreements at headquarters level, some beef farmers have dual membership. The positive spin being put on that is that the new organisation, representing unified purpose, will start with a big recruitment drive.

It is also possible that the final straw for some members of the National Beef Association Scotland was the dismissal of controversial NBA UK director Kim Marie Haywood last autumn. Once again, personalities and egos had as much to do with that as poor management.

Refusing to get involved in the politics of any decision, Ross said his concern and personal view was that all organisations involved with the vital Scottish beef industry must work in concert.

That means the new Scottish Beef Association working closely with Quality Meat Scotland, NFU Scotland, and the National Beef Association