Ian Johnson, South West spokesman of the National Farmers' Union, said: "It's a vicious circle because, despite producing to the highest farm-assured Red Tractor standards – which supermarkets insist upon – our farmers are then subjected to vicious downward price pressure by these same supermarkets, as they trawl the world looking for the cheapest product they can source, paying scant regard to these higher standards and the resultant production costs imposed on British farmers.

"It doesn't take Einstein to work out that this will mean a continuing decline in beef production here, with its potentially devastating impact on the wider rural economy and the care of the countryside.

"In the unlikely event that supermarkets will wake up and smell the coffee any time soon, remaining focused on their short-termist profit-chasing imperatives rather than the sustainability of British production, let alone the environment, we would urge all consumers to think carefully about their choices and consider, even in these tough times, making sure they buy beef displaying the Red Tractor British farm-assured logo."

Mr Johnson said news of the importing of US beef was "a timely endorsement" of the newly launched Ladies in Beef initiative, as well as the highly successful Great British Beef Week of a fortnight ago, and the pursuit of an EU-protected geographical recognition for red meat that is bred, born, reared and mainly grass-fed in the South West.