MORE MARKETING HASSLE WITH ORGANIC LAMBS…
MORE MARKETING HASSLE WITH ORGANIC LAMBS…
Going organic and
wondering where to sell
your lambs? Jeremy Hunt
looks at the options
FLOCK owners considering switching to organic lamb production should not be concerned that marketing their lambs will be more complicated once they have achieved organic status.
Thats the opinion of the farmers and marketeers currently working flat-out to develop a foundation strategy able to handle the large numbers of both store and prime lambs expected to hit the market in the next few years.
Some prime lamb producers who are used to drawing stock each week during a summer and autumn selling season fear that their weekly trip to the market with a trailer load of lambs wont be an option once they have achieved organic status.
Similarly hill farmers, many of whom are already operating low-input systems and are ripe to convert to organic management, are worried about the logistics of marketing vast numbers of lightweight store lambs.
Although autumn store sales generate a major slice of the annual income of most hill sheep farmers, unless special sales were dedicated for organic lambs – which may be a possibility within three years time – the market for organic store lambs from hill areas will depend on the how much organic lowland grazing is available to enable buyers to retain the status of their purchased stock.
While some auction marts in the north of England are thought to have been discussing the viability of staging organic store lamb sales in the future, the advice being given to hill sheep farmers by official organic sector bodies is to check-out marketing opportunities as soon as possible.
Mid-Wales sheep producer Nigel Elgar recommends that course of action to all sheep producers currently debating the organic option for their own flocks.
Chicken-and-egg
"I know its a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation – sheep farmers are waiting to see what the marketing opportunities are, and the buying end of the chain is waiting to see what the production level of organic lamb is likely to be – but my advice to farmers is to start investigating markets now.
"And that goes for those who have begun their conversion or those still sitting on the fence," says Mr Elgar who has been producing organic lamb since 1990.
"Because I have been involved in organics for nine years, people assume I am an expert. But believe me, the issue of marketing of organic livestock is moving at such a pace at the moment that we are all still learning."
Mr Elgar is currently undertaking trips to other countries to investigate their lamb marketing procedures. His first impression is that supermarkets in some European countries have a firm hold on organic supplies of livestock.
"Supermarkets in the UK are already trying to get producers and processors to supply them directly but I dont believe that is how organic marketing should allow itself to be driven.
"Farmers need to establish a co-operative approach to the marketing of lamb on a national level; and I think we are already some way towards achieving that. Perhaps the Organic Livestock Marketing Co-operative could act as an umbrella organisation."
Mr Elgar is involved in Graig Farm Producer Group of Llandrindod Wells which is currently handling a range of primestock from around 20 farmers in Wales and the Border Counties and supplying up to 80 retail outlets from Scotland to Devon.
Graig Farm is keen to enlist new producers and plans to provide far more than just a co-operative marketing facility.
"Those of us involved with Graig Farm hope that advice on marketing, traceability, stock selection and homeopathy will be offered to farmers who supply stock to the group."
Graig Farm, owned by Bob Kennard, handles 2000-3000 organic lambs a year as part of its overall throughput.
"Organic livestock producers in the UK are currently facing a unique opportunity for the next six to nine months when they can impose their own influence on the marketing of organic stock. They can tilt the balance of power and it is up to them to grasp the chance," says Mr Kennard.