Ask AHDB – Beef and Lamb Levy Increase Proposals

[TFF]

AHDB’s Beef and Lamb Sector Council would like your questions about proposals to improve services and deliver more by increasing levy rates from the start of the 2024/25 financial year.

Sector Chair Colin Bateman will be taking part in a Q and A session, responding to questions from levy payers, at AHDB’s ‘Funding Your Future’ livestream event on 9 November.

Colin is an upland livestock producer with more than 25 years’ experience in the beef and lamb sector. His farming business runs to 340Ha and he has a particular interest in building future proof, resilient livestock systems.

You can find out details of the proposals for the Beef and Lamb Sector here: Funding Your Future 2023 – Beef & Lamb | AHDB

The Sector Council are proposing an increase in levy rates to:

• Gaining access to growing export markets
• Hosting more trade missions to promote British red meat to international buyers
• Extra consumer marketing campaigns
• Increasing education work with schools
• Highlighting the low environmental impact of production

The Beef and Lamb Live Q and A session will start at 14:00 GMT on 9 November. Any questions not responded to on the day will be answered after the event and shared in this thread.

 

[AHDB]

Q. Do you think we would be worse off without you ?



Q. With the amount of money we pay in levies, would it be better spent giving it all to an advertising agent ?

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

Of course levy payers would be worse off without AHDB. The frustration in a question like that is that people don’t understand that AHDB does because a lot of the work done is behind the scenes. It’s about providing the evidence to be able to sell our product at a higher price. We have a product which at the moment in the domestic market that is trading much higher than other products around the world. A lot of that is because of the evidence, it’s the story, the marketing. I would fear for the future of my farm without AHDB. There’s a lot of other competitors in the world who’d like to take those markets from us. They back their levy boards in a big way and they’re very aggressive. They are not going to go away so we have got to keep investing in our sector.

LB: In terms of the core team there’s 10 marketing people working across four sectors. We use agencies and second in the expertise as and when we need to use it. We don’t have the biggest budgets compared to some of the private sector – there are companies that have advertising budgets five or six times the size of ours but we do sweat that asset phenomenally well. There’s a considered more strategic approach to this which is that advertising is the mouthpiece but actually the really important part is all the work behind the scenes that levy payers not always us see that allows us to push the boundaries and talk about new things. For example, the conversations to move the debate from GWP 100 to GWP* or the conversations that are happening with our knowledge exchange teams to help the sectors get to net zero, or taking a panel of nutritionists out on farm to talk to a farmer about his journey to net zero. Without having all that happening, the advertising becomes dated and obsolete because it’s not moving forward.

 

[AHDB]

Why are you the AHDB so keen to increase my costs by way of supporting/ Running the New LIS scheme for EID tagging in cattle when it will increase my costs/ red tape and stress levels for no gain?

Why did you the AHDB vote in favour of the RT Green module at the RT Sept board meeting without first consulting levy payers on the issue?

When is the AHDB going to do more for less like they keep on telling levy payers to do so?

Why is the AHDB levy such a complete and utter waste of money?

How do you justify your wages of £250 a day working for the AHDB?

When do we get a plain YES OR NO vote on scrapping the AHDB beef and lamb section?

DEFRA been working on Livestock Information. Having good traceability is key to unlocking export markets and keeping the confidence of consumers. As we know it only takes one disease outbreak to destroy confidence.

Our current Red Tractor position is here: AHDB ready to support discussions over future of farm assurance | AHDB

We don’t tell people what to do. It would be good to understand where you think we are doing this. Most of the spend is post farm gate. The pre farm gate work is valued by a lot of people who interact with it. It also helps bould our story as a sector. I don’t expect everyone to like every aspect of what we do.

We don’t believe it is a waste of money.

I’m not getting into pay. We have brilliant people at AHDB who work hard every day to deliver value for you and all levy payers.

This can be trigged as described in the video.

 

[AHDB]

Why, oh why, do you still concede the bulldust about methane from cow burps warming the atmosphere?

No other industry would self fund a body that scored such a colossal own goal.

For goodness sake, get with the plan and fight for us, or expect our utter contempt.
Currently I'd vote to dump the lot of you.

Our work has focused on getting biogenic methane more accurately reflected in reporting and have been dual reporting with GWP*. We have published a number of new pages on the website trying to build understanding of emissions, the GHG national inventory and the use of GWP*. We have used the information from these webpages in presentations across the industry.

New study supports GWP* to measure methane from livestock | AHDB

What is GWP*? | AHDB

Applying GWP* to UK national GHG emissions | AHDB

The latest page dual reports the GHG National Inventory statistics.

We Eat Balanced website is still using GWP100 numbers. Data used in our marketing campaign is strictly determined by the demands of the Advertising Standards Authority codes. There is very little data we are able to draw on to support claims that promote British red meat and dairy. The national inventory data is used to highlight, by comparison to other sectors, how little livestock contribute to national emissions. This stems from the common false claim that livestock emit more than transport. While we fully acknowledge there are serious flaws in these figures due to a number a reporting factors and methods, it is the only legally recognised data we are able to use at present.

 

[AHDB]

If there is to be more spend on advertising, how will that be done ? Please maximise use of social media, media influencers, you tube etc… we have the best food story to tell.

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

We’ve found a formula that works, that drives impact so anything that we’re doing now, we’re looking to complement activity rather than compete with or cannibalise it. We are very much focused on continuing the mission of protecting the role of red meat as part of a healthy and sustainable diet. Some areas where that could manifest is in more targeting of consumers, particularly younger consumers, and also healthcare professionals where we’ve seen a disparity in their understanding of the role of red meat within a healthy, sustainable diet.

Partnership working is also important because when you are talking about Gen Z, you need that relatability, it gives you credibility if you’re doing it with the right partners. But also, just from a making the money go further perspective, partnership working allows us to share resource, do more, more often. And there is the frequency of what we’re doing. So, if we’re doing something we know works, and we do it often, we know it will keep those attitudes up. Digital innovation is really important, as it allows us to do more, more frequently, more intelligently. The use of Artificial Intelligence and chatbots gives us scale.

 

[AHDB]

AHDB website says you're spending £19 million annually on advertising

Public records show the AHDB revenue, excluding livestock information services, is around £8 million

1.)Assuming the AHDB marketing budget claimed on your website is correct, from where is the additional funding sourced?

2.)Why do you intend increasing levies upon already beleaguered primary producers, when the AHDB has access to alternative revenue streams?




Your marketing strategy centres upon cluttered, information dense, defensive, difficult to digest flyers. Many of the "messages" published have not altered for over half a decade.

3.)With a rapidly changing society media influence, why has the AHDB not invested in alternative marketing strategies that are proven to deliver more effective response and greater value for money?

4.)What evidence does the AHDB have that increasing their compulsory levy revenue will increase primary producer income?

5.)Why should livestock farmers have no choice but throw good money after bad?

The numbers you have used here aren’t as you are putting them forward.

The £19m is for Marketing and Export work across all our sectors. The income from the Beef & Sheep levy is approx £14.2m this year of which roughly 70% is spent on Exports and Marketing activities.

Nearly all of our revenue is through levy and access to alternative revenue streams is not as you are saying here. We are looking at ways we can leverage money from other sources however that will never get near the amount that is received from the levy.

Have a look at the marketing we do on the website it is not as you are describing and there are new cutting-edge campaigns every year. ‘We Eat Balanced’, ‘Iron Lady’, ‘Eat Like A Lioness’, these are across all channels from TV to social media, they have a huge impact with the target audience.

We know that our various work has a positive impact on the sector that when people see our adverts they are more likely to purchase red meat. The ‘Make It’ campaign had a 12:1 return on investment (we know that doesn’t all go to farm gate) which had a positive impact on sales. We also know that on sheep, for example about £35 per head, is added by exports and if we weren’t involved those exports deals wouldn’t be in place.

We don’t believe it is throwing good money after bad. It is in investment in the future of the sector. AHDB do work that individual producers can’t do on their own.

 

[AHDB]

Please do away with the team that tells me every week how much the grass is growing!! It is meaningless.
Do you still do benchmarking? Another useless idea as all farming systems are different.

Just concentrate on the export markets.

70% of our work is on Exports and Marketing. Being able to prove our credentials is key to being able to unlock these markets. We have a lot of levy payers who value the on-farm information and work we undertake. This also helps to build our story. You don’t have to like everything we do but hope you can see value in most areas.

 

[AHDB]

Do the AHDB still endorse the RT scheme, or do they think it works against UK farmers?

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

AHDB has been very consistent on the position it’s taken on assurance. In 2021 we asked for a review at the time we weren’t supported, and we very recently asked for a review. Our position is that we need to see a review of the whole of assurance, how does it work, who does it work for, where is the value and is it fit for the future? The most important thing is whether it is fit for the future and does it deliver value back to farmers. Until we can ask those questions it is very difficult to move forward.

An overarching review has got to be one review delivered independently.

 

[AHDB]

Since we've left Europe, is it time to review the EUROP carcass classification grid?

This is a piece of work that was looked at a few years ago and if levy payers asked us to revisit then it would be possible to re look at it.

 

[AHDB]

AHDB, you are asking for a 25% rise in our levy rates.

If you can lift the average price of beef and lamb, returned to your levy payers, over the next 12 months by 25%, we will pay you that increase.
If not, we'll stay as we are, thanks.

Don't keep banging on about us 'becoming more efficient' - we've been doing that for years, we've about exhausted all the efficiencies we can make.

It's not quite as clean cut as that. The levy is a small percentage of the finished animal and not 25% of the value. As I have shared in other answers the work that we are doing in marketing and exports are offering value for levy payers. We want to make sure this work continues.

I don’t think we do ‘bang on’ about efficiency. 70% of work we do is in exports and marketing which is post farm gate. We do want to engage levy payers pre farm gate as well and this helps us build the case to sell more product.

 

[AHDB]

At a time when UK agriculture is being squeezed from all sides, what makes the AHDB (an organisation which claims to work for us farmers) think it’s acceptable to increase levy payments by 25%? Surely it’s time to reassess how OUR money is spent? Telling farmers how great our product is is just preaching to the choir. It seems more sensible to stop wasting funds on that and reasign those funds to educating the public.
Where were AHDB when the deal was signed with Australia to allow them more access to our marketplace? A move that will almost certainly negatively impact profitability for sheep and beef producers.
Why do the AHDB seem to roll over and allow RT and other quango organisations to attempt to steamroller new rules onto farmers that offer a negative impact on farm profitability?
You mention all the things you wish to achieve with an increase in levy payments. These objectives are no different to what you ought to have been doing for years? Instead of milking farmers for more, try being more efficient and actually using the money you have to the maximum like we’ve all had to do.
The green lobby are years ahead of us in claiming how bad red meat production is for the environment. That falsehood should have been a prime objective for years now. Not an excuse to increase levies now.

We don’t advertise produce to farmers. Our marketing is aimed at consumers and the specific groups of consumers that we are likely to have an impact on.

We do offer content for articles to the farming press and use the expertise of our brilliant teams where it offers an impact to levy payers.

We asked all levy payers what the most important work was to them 18 months ago and we have put that into place. Reputation, Marketing and Exports making up the vast majority of our work.

We aren’t involved in the agreement of free trade deals.

You can see our position on Red Tractor here: AHDB ready to support discussions over future of farm assurance | AHDB

This is work we have been doing for years and we continue to build on it.

 

[AHDB]

Year on year beef and sheep farmers are getting shafted and working on reduced margins, why do AHDB think its justified to increase their slice of the cake on the backdrop of farmers struggling? I agree with the other comment where it can only be justified if we see concrete results in an increased sale price for the farmers which will see our margins increase by the same percentage increase as the levy, they have failed to date to secure our market prices are kept in line with inflation and most likely will fail in the future. Its more likely to be used for further bureaucracy and red tape to bow down to the false narrative that farmers are destroying the planet as they attempt to appease the vegan movement who will never be our target market anyway.

We know that our various work has a positive impact on the sector.

When people see our adverts, they are more likely to purchase red meat. The ‘Make It’ campaign had a 12:1 return on investment (we know that doesn’t all go to farm gate) which had a positive impact on sales. We also know that on sheep about £35 per head is added by exports and if we weren’t involved, those exports deals wouldn’t be in place. This is where the focus of the Beef & Lamb investment is.

We are one part of the jigsaw in all of this so cannot be responsible for overall prices, just as we can’t take credit for the full £35 per head of added value from exports on sheep meat. We are executing the work that levy payers can’t do on their own.

We aren’t bowing down to a narrative and are actively working to push back. The work we are doing on net zero and baselining is aimed at providing the evidence that allows us to push back in a more robust way.

 

[AHDB]

If the ahdb is so concerned about rising costs, why doesn't it make better use of the farming forum which is free to use?

We have been working with TFF on this piece of work.

 

[AHDB]

The beef and lamb board has said that EU competition rules prevent it from promoting British meat over foreign imports. Some of us levy payers don't want to support an organisation that doesn't support them. Some of us are campaigning against AHDB because of your lacklustre marketing record. Once we have enough people on side, your future will be doubtful. What will you do to keep levy payers from getting organised to vote against you and your intended levy increase?

A few months ago, we managed to find a way to work around the rules you are referring to (which were in UK law). We can now and are now using British and the Union Jack on our marketing materials.

It’s the results of the marketing campaigns that are important, not if people like the adverts or not. We talked about this in the livestream.

 

[AHDB]

What's the procedure for organising a vote on the future of ahdb?

At any time, a ballot can be called within any sector. 5% of levy payers within that sector have to write in within a 30-day period for a ballot to be triggered.

 

[AHDB]

How do ADHB plan to aid the marketing of non RT Beef & Lamb ?

What measures are they putting in place to prevent WLA?

What is currently being done by ADHB to plan for a 'life after Red Tractor' ?

All of our marketing is aimed at Beef & Lamb in general, it doesn’t matter what statues it has. We have also been working with the Halal sector a lot of make sure this market is as vibrant as it can be. This was talked about in the live event.

The position on Red Tractor is here: AHDB ready to support discussions over future of farm assurance | AHDB

 

[AHDB]

AHDB spend a lot of effort disseminating production and efficiency advice down to farmers. That's great, but we've probably exhausted the big issues, and now it's marginal gains.

What we need is strength in numbers when we're selling.

Would AHDB consider creating contract/price negotiating groups for farmers to join.

e.g. everyone who supplies beef direct to ABP... AHDB could help get all those farm in a so glad negotiating group.

If AHDB won't do this, then why not?

^^^^ This is the kind of thing we're most desperately in need of. Readdressing the balance of power in the supply chain.

We aren’t able under our legal status to be involved in the negotiation of prices in the supply chain. We collect levies from both the producer and processor elements to the supply chain.

As with the other answers in this thread we are promoting the reputation of red meat and trying to get more people to buy it across the world.

 

[AHDB]

I do appreciate what AHDB do that is genuinely different but consider that there is savings to be made by not replicating services already offered commercially within the industry. For example running discussion groups etc. Whilst this continues, I question that they have truly tried to make all efficiencies possible before implementing a price increase?

I would like to know what attempts have been made to find alternative sources of income outside of the farmer levy?

Also I think that the abattoirs and supermarkets etc. benefit from a great deal of AHDB work e.g. finding export markets, advertising etc. but pay 25% of what we pay as farmers. Why do they not pay the same per animal as us farmers?

We are always looking at ways to supplement income from other sources. It is an area we are going to focus further on. We do have some other income streams in areas such as the access to our market intelligence services. A challenge with this is that we want to make as much available to levy payers as possible so it limits the income we can generate. We also look to leverage money from government and others areas where we can. There may be scope for more of this in future.

 

[AHDB]

After we have listened to this Q and A broadcast, if we feel the AHDB is unable or unwilling to support all livestock enterprises, assured and unassured in the future, will advice be given on a mechanism that will allow for a vote on the future of the AHDB.

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

The mechanism to call a ballot is in place if 5% of levy payers write in within a set time period. Details are on the website.

 

[AHDB]

Source: Tony Goodger, AIMS

Question: I attended the International Trade Week webinar on exporting to India. The UK vice consul in Mumbai said that India is the UK Government’s number one export market and yet it doesn’t feature on the AHDB Prospects for Exports page. What plans do you have for India?

Answer:

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

What we try and identify is the ones that have the biggest volumes and impact.

One of the big problems with India is the cold chain, keeping product refrigerated is a problem. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be high-value opportunities in India. Once there is a trade deal, we will be out there with exporters taking them out there and finding out what the opportunities are and developing them.

The potential to spread further and look at more markets is bigger with a levy increase.

We have got quite a small exports team. Meat and Livestock Australia are just putting somebody into Vietnam, which is a target market for us, they’ve got people in markets all around the world and that’s something we would like to have. This is where extra levy will give us the opportunity to invest in people because international trade is very much a face-to-face business and it’s all based on trust.

 

[AHDB]

Question: What work do you do on Halal and does it make a difference?

Answer:

Answered at live event: Beef & Lamb: Funding Your Future - YouTube

We’re very active in the Halal sector on behalf of the sheep industry because Muslim consumers hugely over index on lamb consumption. They are a very important part of the sheep meat make-up and dynamic. We do a couple of things to support that sector – first one is understanding the Muslim consumer and what their looking to purchase and how. And the other work we do is about opening new markets overseas or supporting regions where we already have access. Europe is a big export market for sheep meat, some of that is Halal. More recently in the Middle East region, the Muslim population there is of course looking for a quality product. We’re exporting product to the Middle East region that needs to be Halal certified. We promote the product at trade events such as Gulfood and from activity and missions to the market to make sure that our sellers and buyers are really close and they can do business together. It’s very clear from a processing point of view but it’s a little bit removed from a farming point of view but the work that goes on supports the value of the animal, maximises the value of each and every part. Exports of sheep meat in 2022 were £503m so that underlines how important exports are to the sector.