SHEEP INDUSTRY leaders have hit back at the 'fashionable' argument that UK consumers can help reduce climate change by eating less red meat, and argued instead that UK sheepmeat should be the 'environmentally conscious person's meat of choice'.
Responding to recent reports from the Committee for Climate Change and the UN, National Sheep Association chief executive Phil Stocker said that some of the recommendations being made to consumers were 'unbalanced, based on inadequate science, and understood little about the UK sheep industry'.
“It is really frustrating to yet again see our extensive livestock sectors caught up within criticisms of agriculture and their impact on climate change and biodiversity, and little mention of other damaging activities, that may be less popular to criticise," said Mr Stocker. "It is seemingly OK to offset emissions from flying around the world through carbon sequestering actions such as tree planting and peatland management, but not OK for a farm to do its own internal offsetting.
“Yet again livestock farming appears to be an easy target that is fashionable to attack while the reality is that farming methods in the UK contribute positively, and could do even more with the right incentives," claimed Mr Stocker. "In particular, the role of grazed grassland, rotational and permanent leys, in building soil organic matter, soil biology, and storing carbon is ignored.
"Many of the climate change assumptions regarding ruminant livestock farming are based on global systems of production that are very different to our mainstream methods here in the UK. UK sheep and beef systems are predominantly grass based and grazed, and operate in harmony with wildlife, rather than a feedlot style production that is based on crop production, feed processing and transport.”
The association stressed that grass-based meat production absorbs and stores carbon, reduces the risk of wildfires on Britain's hills and moorland, and enhances soil conditions – so UK lamb and mutton should be recognised as the environmentally conscious person's meat of choice.
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
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