The NFU has welcomed, finally, the sign off by ministers of the AHDB promotional campaign for beef and lamb.

The £1.6m promotional activity, part of a three-year strategy to add value to the supply chain by driving awareness of innovative new cuts, will now be launched next month.

NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe said: “This is good news for livestock farmers at a time when many are continuing to struggle with low prices. With high volumes of lambs still to be marketed this autumn it is critical that we maintain consumer demand for new season British lamb.

“However, we remain very disappointed that is has taken so long to sign this off. The delays and dithering by Government have been totally unacceptable and are bound to have a major impact on how the money is spent.

“From an NFU perspective, it is a fundamental point of principle that farmers are able to decide how their levy is spent. While we recognise that Government should scrutinise AHDB, we are encouraged that AHDB is focusing on achieving value for money on levy-payers’ behalf. We ask that it respects the expertise of the beef and lamb sector board that allows them to direct strategy for the red meat sector.

“We would now encourage AHDB and Government to fully explore exempting AHDB as an arms-length body from the Cabinet Office spending controls for advertising, marketing and communications which has, we understand, delayed this promotional activity at a time when the supply chain would benefit from raising customer awareness of British lamb. This delay must not be allowed to happen again next year.”