Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Beef price crisis summit finds no easy answers

The meeting was held to discuss the current downturn in the beef sector.
The meeting was held to discuss the current downturn in the beef sector.

A Scottish Government summit to address the continued decline in beef prices failed to find a solution to the sector’s woes.

The invite-only event, which was held at United Auctions in Stirling and chaired by Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing, was attended by farmers, processors, retailers and other members of the Scotch Beef supply chain.

It comes at a time when farmers are getting up to £250 a head less for cattle than last year and many are thought to be on the brink of ceasing production.

“We had the agenda of asking views about what can be done by industry, government and government agencies working together to support and sustain the beef sector, both in the short-term facing falling prices and rising costs, and in the long-term with consumer demand,” said Mr Ewing.

Joint action was needed to address the sector’s problems and a full package of measures including possible financial support, would be announced in due course, he said.

“I’m at pains to say that it’s not really for the government to come up with all the answers. We need collective action from the industry and Government to work together,” added Mr Ewing.

Quality Meat Scotland chief executive, Alan Clarke, said producers across the UK, Europe and the world, were seeing a decline in prices.

He said: “Scottish producers are still getting some of the highest prices in the world but we understand that they have high production costs.”

Getting consumer buy-in was key and Mr Clarke said the levy body’s new Meat With Integrity campaign would help explain the benefits of buying Scotch Beef to consumers.

NFU Scotland (NFUS) president, Andrew McCornick, said government must work with industry to mitigate against the declining economic fortunes of the Scottish beef sector.

He added: “This is a crisis and those with the power must work harder to secure the future for beef production, focusing on both short-term actions and building long-term resilience within the sector.”

Former NFUS president, Jim Walker, called on beef farmers to form an organisation, similar to Scottish Pig Producers, to arrange supply into abattoirs and get information about future market demands.