Across the country, people have been raising money for farmers in need by eating more beef!

For the third year running, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (R.A.B.I) was chosen by Ladies in Beef (an organisation of female beef farmers), to help promote and drive awareness of the quality and versatility of British beef. Great British Beef Week ran from St George’s Day on April 23 to May 3 and was supported by farmers and retailers in England and Wales.

Yorkshire beef farmer Rosey Dunn, a member of Ladies in Beef, was the face of this year’s campaign. Rosey said: “We’ve lost more than 200,000 British beef breeding cows in the last 10 years and over 100,000 in the last three years alone. UK beef farmers, like much of the farming industry, are facing tough times at present, not least because of the decline of the suckler herd.”

Last year, more than £35,000 was generated for R.A.B.I – a grant-making charity which helps farming people of all ages if they are in financial difficulty – from Great British Beef Week alone.

This year, R.A.B.I organised St George’s Day beef lunches at Brandesburton in East Yorkshire, Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, Kingston Maurward College in Dorset and East Haddon Lodge in Northamptonshire. Other successful events included a Kent clay shoot, the Shropshire county chairman’s lunch and a beef supper at the Royal Cornwall Showground where the star turn was comedian Johnny Cowling. A great team effort saw a crew of volunteers in Bakewell, Derbyshire rack up more than 100 miles on static bikes in just four hours to promote Beef Week, while Gloucester Services donated £1 from every kilo of rump steak sold in their in-house butchery.

HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO attended a beef dinner at Frogmary Green Farm in South Petherton, hosted by award-winning farmers Nick and Claire Bragg, the first generation of farmers to live at Frogmary Green. His Royal Highness received a tour of the farm prior to the dinner, which was attended by more than 90 guests including the Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset, Mrs Annie Maw. Guest speaker at the Chipping Campden and South Petherton dinners was Minette Batters, deputy-president of the NFU and one of the founders of Ladies in Beef. Minette saluted the work of R.A.B.I and said there was still a need to champion British beef.

“Building a herd is a lifetime’s work and to build a beef suckler business you absolutely have to love your cows,” she said. “My message is champion British beef. We’ve got wonderful farms, fantastic stories and businesses and there are massive opportunities. But we’ve got to engage with those opportunities.”

Suzy Deeley, R.A.B.I development manager, said: “Great British Beef Week is hugely important to both the farming industry and R.A.B.I. It is important that we promote traceable and fully assured Red Tractor British beef and put the spotlight firmly on the fantastic food that British beef farmers produce – while raising money for those in need.”