With the announcement of the resignation of Stuart Roberts as chairman of the AHDB Beef and Lamb board for levy payers in England, the industry has been left not knowing what the future holds for beef and lamb marketing.

Chris Mallon, Chief Executive of the National Beef Association (NBA) expressed their dismay commenting, “We are aware that AHDB beef and lamb has had a process of having to have promotional campaigns signed off by Defra, but the mess resulting in the failure to sign off this year’s marketing campaign, is completely unacceptable.”
 
Resigning following a meeting of the sector body on Monday 24th August 2015, Stuart also resigned as a board member of the AHDB.  With the Government refusing to sign-off a budget set aside for promoting British meat, resulting in the loss of a planned TV advertising campaign, the chair of the beef and lamb board was left with little choice.
 
The Beef Association’s executive said a raid on the beef and lamb levies is definitely on the cards with the recent announcement from the chancellor, George Osborne declaring budget cuts of 25 to 40 per cent in the autumn.

The Association believes that pressure is being applied by Defra for AHDB in England to utilise levy payer’s money to fill in some of the holes in Defra’s dwindling budget. The Association has said this would be “entirely unjustified” and would leave the English industry trailing heavily behind the ROI and Scotland in terms of marketing.
 
NBA Chief Executive Chris Mallon said, “It is apparent that there is a need for an independent review covering the management of AHDB, how AHDB interacts with government, and questions need to be addressed as to why decisions made by the beef and lamb board need to be signed off at cabinet level.  It begs the question, when the sector board chair is appointed by the minister, should the chair not be able to sign off the wishes of the board, without the need for civil servants’ scrutiny?
 
“It would appear that Defra want to decide how levy money is spent, this surely should be the responsibility of the sector boards who should be setting their own strategy, and have the authority to fully implement the agreed plan.”
 
In recent weeks members have repeatedly pointed out the lack of promotional activity, at a time when prices for finished stock are not covering producers’ cost of production.

The NBA executive claimed that last week a marketing specialist showed that the reason premium brand Highland Spring Water was more expensive than milk was purely down to the marketing strategy, having little to do with the cost of production.

NBA’s Chris Mallon added, “Peter Kendall may believe promotional activity is poor value and that more of levy payer’s money should be spent on research and development…  However, Mr Kendall as the head of the AHDB has a duty to ensure levy payers are not overlooked at the expense of a private agenda.”