Livestock Fury over BBC programme


on meat production • Broadcast suggests meat is bad for planet • Focus is on global production systems • Programme ‘failed to show British is best’


L


ivestock industry leaders have accused the BBC of broadcasting an unbal- anced and inaccurate programme about the way meat is produced. Screened last month on BBC1, the programme was called “Meat: A Threat to our Planet.” It focused heavily on intensive farming practices in the USA and South America – but gave little or no time to efforts by UK farmers who employ more environmental pro- duction methods.


Industry leaders said the pro- gramme also failed to note that Brazilian beef accounted for just 1% of total UK beef imports in 2018 – so most beef purchased by British consumers does not come from the farming systems featured, which deplete the rain- forests.


The programme prompted outrage from producers across the livestock sector – and indus- try organisations including the National Beef Association, Agri- culture and Horticulture Devel- opment Board, and the Soil As- sociation.


Food standards


In a joint statement also signed by other farm union leaders from across the UK, NFU president Minette Batters said the docu- mentary showed why food stand- ards must be upheld in any future trade deals after the UK leaves the European Union. “At no point did the documen- tary explain the vast differenc- es between American meat pro- duction and UK production. This was a massive oversight consid- ering the BBC’s audience and would have left people with the impression that all meat is pro- duced in the same way. “We know the public want to eat sustainably and they can do this by investing in the UK live- stock sector, which is already producing some of the most cli- mate-friendly beef and lamb in the world and has an ambition to do even more.”


Industry leaders argue that beef production in the UK is al- ready 2.5 times more efficient than the global average – and four times more efficient than


beef produced in places which are deforesting vast tracts of land.


Informed choice


“Simply showing the environ- mental impact of beef produc- tion in North and South Amer- ica does nothing to help people make informed choices about food which can be grown and reared in ways that offer benefits for the environment. “For example, with the UK’s


climate, landscape and grass- based systems we have the means, and the ambition, to pro- vide quality, nutritious meat in ways that not only protect the en- vironment, but help mitigate the world’s impact on the climate. “The documentary did, howev-


er, demonstrate the concerns UK farming has about future trade, and what we could expect to see on our supermarket shelves if the government were to allow food into the country which has been produced in ways that would be illegal here.


“If we are to maintain our val- ues of environmental protection and animal welfare which are at the core of UK farming, and we know the public want to uphold, future trade deals must ensure all imports meet the standard re- quired of UK farmers.”


BBC response In response, BBC presenter Liz Bonnin said the aim of the pro- gramme was to accurately in- form and educate views about the scale of meat production glob- ally and why its environmental impact is a problem for the planet. Ms Bonnin said: “We clear-


Presenter Liz Bonnin failed to differentiate between the environmental impact of production systems, say critics


50 ANGLIA FARMER • DECEMBER 2019


ly said in ‘Meat: A Threat to our Planet?’ that some farmers around the world rear animals in ways that allow the land to re- generate, and support soil health and biodiversity more than inten- sive farming.” She added: “I stand by everything this documentary communicated and I trust that it is, in actual fact, rather clear that it might help to further the cause of those who produce meat and other foods in truly sustain- able ways.”


British farmers ‘fed- up’ over the way they are portrayed


Two-thirds of farmers are constantly scrutinising their businesses to make them more environmentally friend- ly – and fed-up at the way they are portrayed in the media. Some 67% of farmers are working the make their busi- nesses greener – with 91% saying they are unfairly por- trayed as enemies of the en- vironment, according to a survey conducted on behalf of SellMyLivestock and Gra- index.


Some 89% of farmers said they had a good understand- ing of where greenhouse gas emissions came from on their farm and were working to re- duce them, said Andrew Lof- tus, commercial director at SellMyLivestock. “UK farmers have recently been vilified in the press and media as enemies of the envi- ronment,” he said. “Global studies, reports and news stories often fea- ture environmentally dam- aging farming practices over- seas – but are applied liberally to the UK, where our farming is far more environmentally friendly.”


Easy target British farming, particularly livestock, was seen as an easy target, added Mr Loftus. “There are no big corpo- rations with huge PR budg- ets to spend defending it, just thousands of small fam- ily farms. It’s frankly a cheap shot for virtue signalling or- ganisations eager to appease a ‘woke’ generation of misled consumers.”


Mr Loftus added: “We don’t hate the environment, we cherish it and rely on it. Most people in the UK un- derstand this intuitively, but a vocal minority are regularly attacking thousands of hard working farmers up and down the country, whose job it is to put food on our plates.”


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