Retailers and consumers are being urged to show their support for British beef and poultry as a new trade deal threatens to bring in floods of cheap imports from South America.
The NFU this week said it was important that consumers were encouraged to buy into British farming standards such as Red Tractor and that retailers recognised the value offered by meat produced by British farmers.
The move comes after European farming organisation Copa claimed EU beef farmers stood to lose as much as 25bn if trade barriers between the EU and the Mercosur group of South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) were reduced.
The EU is due to start negotiations with Mercosur next week, and is believed to be keen to open up South American markets for EU-produced high-tech products. But farmers fear agriculture will be 'sold down the river' in return, with EU markets being flooded with cheap South American meats at a time when food inflation is rising and supermarkets are increasingly on the look-out for cheaper alternatives to keep prices down.
Mercosur countries were already the largest exporters of beef into the EU, accounting for 80% of imports, and studies from the UK, Germany and Italy showed Mercosur beef imports were typically "more competitive than European products", Copa said. "An agreement in the trade liberalising talks between the EU and Mercosur would lead to a total collapse of the EU beef sector."
Farmers were particularly concerned a Mercosur deal would mean home-grown meat would have to compete with cheaper meat produced to lesser welfare and environmental rules, added Alistair Mackintosh, NFU livestock board chairman and vice president of the Copa beef group.
"Times are tough for everyone, but if you undermine domestic production in favour of cheap imports now, you do so at the risk of future supply," he said. "Meat from abroad won't always be guaranteed."
The NFU this week said it was important that consumers were encouraged to buy into British farming standards such as Red Tractor and that retailers recognised the value offered by meat produced by British farmers.
The move comes after European farming organisation Copa claimed EU beef farmers stood to lose as much as 25bn if trade barriers between the EU and the Mercosur group of South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) were reduced.
The EU is due to start negotiations with Mercosur next week, and is believed to be keen to open up South American markets for EU-produced high-tech products. But farmers fear agriculture will be 'sold down the river' in return, with EU markets being flooded with cheap South American meats at a time when food inflation is rising and supermarkets are increasingly on the look-out for cheaper alternatives to keep prices down.
Mercosur countries were already the largest exporters of beef into the EU, accounting for 80% of imports, and studies from the UK, Germany and Italy showed Mercosur beef imports were typically "more competitive than European products", Copa said. "An agreement in the trade liberalising talks between the EU and Mercosur would lead to a total collapse of the EU beef sector."
Farmers were particularly concerned a Mercosur deal would mean home-grown meat would have to compete with cheaper meat produced to lesser welfare and environmental rules, added Alistair Mackintosh, NFU livestock board chairman and vice president of the Copa beef group.
"Times are tough for everyone, but if you undermine domestic production in favour of cheap imports now, you do so at the risk of future supply," he said. "Meat from abroad won't always be guaranteed."
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