At a summit in London on Tuesday, representatives of UK livestock farming groups discussed challenges facing the sheep industry. As a result of poor weather, a longer finishing period, rising costs, disease challenges and a marked drop in lamb prices over the past year, many producers are struggling.

Representatives from French, Spanish and Irish farming unions also outlined many of the same concerns via conference calls.

Following the summit, a joint industry statement issued by the industry representatives declared, "Confidence in the sheep sector is at rock bottom. Factors such as the weather, rising costs and disease are contributing to make the 'perfect storm' and farmers are being left to produce lamb at less than the cost of production."

The four major UK farm unions pledged to pull together to address the challenges farmers are facing in countries across the EU. The unions blamed "cheap New Zealand imports" in part for the pressures on farmers' margins.

The unions also said it would make efforts to secure a review of Specified Risk Material (SRM) controls which devalue older lambs and urge the UK processing sector to take more of a lead to improve transparency for producers in the deadweight lamb market.

The industry leader concluded in their statement that "Despite the troubling times, we believe there are grounds for optimism in the long term. We know our lamb is in demand both at home and abroad but the industry must regain its confidence to invest in the future if we are to exploit these opportunities."