The World Meat Congress gathers meat leaders from around the globe to discuss trends in markets and upcoming issues for the red meat industry. Over the next 30 years the global demand for food will increase by 60%. This required increase in production of meat must come hand in hand with environmental sustainability and low carbon footprint. The role of science and technology and innovation will play a pivotal role in future sustainable production.

Irish representation

Irish representation include Mark Zeig, beef sector manager with Bord Bia and Cormac Healy, Meat Industry Ireland. Over 750 will attend the three day conference from countries all over the world with a heavy contingent from countries like China and Japan.

China and Japan

China and Japan are the countries that everybody is talking about and the opportunities their increase in meat consumption will bring to meat exporting countries. While many have acknowledged that countries like China, Japan and Korea take a long time to penetrate, their growing middle class and affluence presents massive opportunities for the meat industry. Ireland’s recent success in gaining access to the Chinese market was acknowledged yesterday at the conference opening.

Social media growth

Table 1 outlines the the world digital statistics from 2014 and 2018 and demonstrates the growth in internet users and social media penetration. Countries like Japan and Korea have seen an 80% increase in social media usage during this time.

Joe Haggard, CEO of the American Meat Exporters Association told the conference that in a recent survey of American millennials 53% of them would rather lose their sense of smell than their mobile technology. He also said that 93% of millennial buying decisions are influenced by social media. These figures present real challenges for the meat production industry.

The introduction of restrictions on antibiotic usage in the EU came in for criticism at this mornings opening session from the American Meat Exporters Association. This legislation is seen as a serious barrier to get beef into the high priced EU market in the future. EU policy makers were criticised for taking best practice animal welfare practices out of the hands of veterinarians.

Sonny Perdue, US Secretary of Agriculture will gave the keynote address at the conference on Thursday. The conference opening was marred by a small number of vegan protesters chanting slogans outside the hotel along with handing out vegan promotional material to passers by.

Follow farmersjournal.ie and @fjbeef on twitter for live updates during the conference