AHDB Pork proposes to spend extra £1m on promoting British pork

The increase in domestic marketing spend of £1 million is proposed to help position pork as a versatile meal solution
The increase in domestic marketing spend of £1 million is proposed to help position pork as a versatile meal solution

AHDB Pork is proposing to spend an extra £1m on promoting British pork under a new three-year strategy for the sector, launched this week.

The increase in domestic marketing spend of £1 million is proposed to help position pork as a versatile meal solution, rather than an alternative to other meats. The spending will be weighted towards 2017, the first year of the strategy.

The 2017–2020 AHDB Pork Strategy builds on work delivered under AHDB Pork’s current ‘Going for Growth’ programme and its successful Pulled Pork Campaign. In the run up to Brexit, the strategy outlines proposals to build on market intelligence horizon scanning, market analysis and export work.

Meryl Ward, AHDB Pork Chair said: “The AHDB Pork strategy is clearly focused on where the levy can add best value collectively for levy payers, with smarter working in conjunction with industry partners, funding groups and research consortia and tapping into the cross sector expertise in AHDB. Data collection and management will be critical to benchmarking and measuring progress.”

“Our new strategy looks at how we can make best use of the €2 million funding for the Pig Innovation Group funding being co-ordinated through AHDB. This will enable us to learn best practice and adopt the brightest ideas from Europe.

“The new Agritech Centre of Innovation and Excellence for Livestock (CIEL) is an opportunity to focus industry R&D priorities, recognising the substantial differences between the English and EU industries. These new collaborative partnerships should capture opportunities to improve our competiveness and resilience in the face of price-based competition in a post Brexit market.

Mrs Ward added: “We will also look at introducing a new skills framework to bring together existing fragmented training schemes to ensure the industry attracts and retains the best staff, recognising that good stockmanship combined with excellent business management is a key component of farm business success.”