Listening to the debate at Thainstone Mart on Monday night, the industry was united that more needs to be done to promote beef consumption and combat negative anti-red meat press headlines. However, how this campaign was to be paid for was less unanimous.

QMS chair Kate Rowell explained that their recent beef campaign cost £400,000, however compared with the advertising budgets of companies like Baxters and Kellogs it is a drop in the ocean.

Making an impact

As a result, one farmer asked how much was needed to run a big campaign to make an impact, which Kate diplomatically answered, “the more we get, the more we can do”. But it was clear that some farmers saw the appeal of an increased levy for promotion, while others were hesitant.

Combatting some of the misleading headlines on beef’s impact on climate change is something which we could unite on with other grass-based farmers.

This could be across the UK and even across Europe. Putting the levy up might give more resources to QMS, but I would be anxious that even doubling the budget wouldn’t provide the cash for the results farmers need.

But this is a genuine debate and we need more information on what could be achieved with a bigger levy spend.