This week we catch up with new Scottish Beef Association chair and Orkney beef farmer Paul Ross. The previous NFU Scotland Orkney chairman comes into the role with escalating prices, climate challenge and sluggish returns for sucklers.

What are the big challenges facing the beef sector in the next few years?

The net zero agenda is obviously one of the biggest challenges with how future funding will go through. But at the same time the here and now is the big worry about cow numbers. There is far too much incentive to plant trees with companies buying up land for peatland restoration and carbon capture to allow their own businesses to keep polluting.

I worry about the impact of losing cows on the Scottish beef sector, it could lead to fewer markets and abattoirs which wouldn’t be good for competition. We are not seeing many cows go off in Orkney but I hear up and down the West Coast there are cows leaving farms and crofts and not being replaced. This makes it harder for the ones who keep going, as haulage and access to vets will get harder.

We also have the ongoing problem with a wrong perception with the public that beef is bad. There is still a huge amount of work to be done, which isn’t easy when it feels like the media is against you. But the issue facing farmers today is the price of inputs. Before Russia invaded Ukraine already we had worries about the cost of production but since then it has gone mental.

Where has the Scotch Premium gone and what can we do about it?

It has certainly gone. I have asked a lot of questions as to why it disappeared last year in the run up to Christmas. And no one knew why. The disappointing fact was retailers were not labelling Scotch and were mixing English and Irish beef on the shelves. The price was the same across the co-mingled product.

It was at this time that English abattoirs were paying more for cattle than here in Scotland. Some people blamed it on having so much spring calving, which gave an over supply at certain times of the year, but I question if that is really the case. There was a lot of foreign product on the shelves in the run up to Christmas last year when the premium disappeared.

Since then the premium has returned and then gone away again.

There isn’t any silver bullet to getting the premium back, but something needs to be done. One way would be to get better labelling on our products. We saw huge support for Scottish and British during covid. But anything which has a sauce applied or a processed in anyway doesn’t have the country of origin. We have had meetings with Scottish Government about labelling but we have not made much progress. All your hospitality sector has no requirement to tell consumers where the beef comes from. If we had better labelling then it could help to get some of the Scotch premium back.

If we don’t get prices up soon then this coming winter will be horrendous.

What are your thoughts on farm assurance?

We definitely need an assurance scheme going forward if we want a premium price. But I totally get the anger, when the premium disappeared for beef and at the same time there seemed to be continually extra regulation coming in. Some of them seem to be little benefit and it creates more aggravation and costs for the farmer.

I don’t think we should throw it all out and get rid of QMS. We need some farm assurance in the age we live in. But I do think they need to be careful before throwing more regulations on us. There doesn’t seem to be as much consultation when changing from a recommendation to a requirement which is annoying people.

And if you are a primary producer in the south of Scotland then I can quite see why assurance might not be worth it. If you can sell cattle in the north of England for more money and get Red Tractor status in 90 days there is not much benefit of being QMS assured.

What step should the industry embrace to increase efficiency?

We need to try and establish why the calving percentage is so poor on many farms. Then use this information to increase the numbers of calves weaned. This could be linked to animal health and breeding.

Soil health and grassland management is another area with big potential. There are a lot of farms with pH well below optimum. I am not suggesting we all go to rotational paddock systems overnight as there are a lot of single labour unit farms. But having said that this is an area where efficiency can be made especially in the face of the current price of fertiliser.

What should be done to support the beef sector in the face of rising costs?

We have seen most countries in Europe have got some sort of help from their government. The Irish, French, Germans and Spanish are all getting something. Unless the price of beef goes up drastically, we will be in trouble. The worry is, I am not sure how far the price on the shelf can rise and the consumers keep buying it. Inflation is affecting the public and many have less to spend.

On farms we all know the fertiliser and feed costs are going up but there as a lot of smaller costs which are going up as well. At current prices for store cattle, the profitability has gone from suckler cows.

If you want to keep the cows in Scotland, there is going to have to be some sort of intervention from government to help the job going. We will need a slaughter premium or increased calf scheme to help folk get through the coming winter.

Is it time for the EUROP grid to go? And what should it be replaced with?

We have to get a measure of eating quality into how we grade beef. The EUROP grid has now served its purpose. The rest of the world is making progress on marbling and tenderness, but the EUROP grid doesn’t do this. Due to a second independent referendum on the cards the Scottish Government will want to stay aligned to EU rules which means changing regulations like beef grading unlikely in the short term. But I know a lot of famers who think it should go, processors are maybe not so sure.

How can beef farmers get involved with the SBA?

I’d encourage anyone wanting to be involved to get in touch. There are details on the website and we always welcome new members.

We used to have four or five meetings a year in person but since covid until our first face to face last week. Going forward there will be a mix of meetings in person and online meetings whenever there are issues to discuss. It means we can react to events quicker and it is a lot easier for farmers. Next year in early June we will have our beef event which was delayed through Covid.

Farm: Lenahowe

Size: 300 acres owned

Herd: 105 Salers cross or Simental cross sucklers cows

Flock: 100 mainly Texel cross ewes

Arable: 45 acres of spring barley