Week-long initiative to highlight lamb's sustainable qualities

Farmers and the public can get involved by using the hashtag #LoveLamb, to share pictures to inspire others

A week-long campaign which aims to highlight the sustainable and nutritional qualities of British lamb will commence soon.

Love Lamb Week, an industry-wide initiative, will focus on emphasising the nutritional benefits of lamb and its role in sustainable meat production.

It will run from 1 to 7 September and is supported by the likes of the AHDB, the National Sheep Association (NSA) and the NFU.

In recent years, there is also increasing support from butchers, chefs and retailers across the country.

Over 3,000 butcher's kits containing a poster and recipe cards have been developed and sent to high-street butchers and farm shops.

There are also Urdu translated kits arriving at Halal butchers across the country.

Social media users can get involved by using the hashtags #LoveLamb and #MakeitLamb, to share pictures and videos to inspire others to embrace the campaign.

This year’s event introduces the final wave of the joint AHDB, HCC and QMS ‘Make it Lamb’ campaign which runs from 1 September – 26 October.

Will Jackson, AHDB’s Strategy Director for Beef and Lamb, said the initiative comes amid increased lamb sales in-store.

However, he said there was still more that can be done: "We want consumers to see that lamb doesn’t just hit you in the chops with flavour, but is also nutritious and sustainable.

“Sheep have a really unique role in being able to live in our most extreme landscapes and converting grass into delicious and versatile meat."

He added: "Not only that, they aid biodiversity and maintain our most beloved landscapes. Without them our countryside would be a very different place.”

Love Lamb Week was set up in 2015 by the late Rachel Lumley, a passionate Cumbrian sheep farmer who wanted to promote the meat to a wider audience.