Lancashire farmer urges retailers to support UK lamb producers

Lancashire farmer and NFU livestock board chairman Thomas Binns is reinforcing the message retailers must support English and Welsh lamb producers after New Zealand lamb imports continued to have a negative impact on home markets.

Mr Binns, who farms at Hecklin Farm in Downham near Clitheroe, met with the UK manager of Meat and Wool New Zealand John Mabb to express the anger felt by members over increased imports and the imbalance it has created in the UK market.

He said: "I left Mr Mabb in no doubt that UK farmers are furious over New Zealand exporters flooding UK retailers with lamb. It is a dangerous situation for farmers both here in the UK and in New Zealand as the low farm gate price in both parts of the world is unsustainable for producers.

"Farmers here in Britain are furious because the rise in New Zealand lamb in UK supermarkets during March left our domestic markets completely deflated.

"Retailers are clearly turning their backs on home-reared lamb in favour of cheaper imports. But what they fail to see is that unless they start working with UK farmers very soon they won't have fresh, local lamb to sell to their customers.

Mr Binns also referred to the report produced recently by the NFU on the threats to beef and lamb production in England, entitled "Warning – industry and countryside at risk".

This argues the decline in beef and lamb production could accelerate rapidly, with disastrous consequences for the economy and the environment, if the entire production chain does not unite in finding long-term contractual arrangements geared to creating sustainable supply chains