Best news for decade (From Western Telegraph)

Best news for decade

The dozens of Pembrokeshire livestock farmers who make their living from the beef market have welcomed what has been described as the most positive news for the British beef industry in a decade.

The lifting of the worldwide ban on British beef exports is a tremendous boost to the industry, according to livestock farmers like Anthony Cole.

Mr Cole, who runs 2,500 head of cattle on the Castlemartin peninsula, hopes it will bring the beef price in line with that of other European countries.

He is currently paid between £1.94 and £2/kg for his beef compared to the £2.60/£2.70kg French farmers get.

Mr Cole and his wife, Alison, have just bought a farm in the Limoges region of France where a barren cow averages £1,300. In the UK, farmers are lucky to get £500.

However, with the export ban set to be revoked within the next month, prices are certain to lift too.

Mr Cole reckons the move will put a bottom in the market for farmers like him.

"The demand is there, France in particular is desperately short of beef," said Mr Cole.

"It has been a difficult few years for beef producers but the future is looking much brighter."

He has invested in France because of the opportunities for expansion.

"The Government really wants farmers under 40 and there are generous grants available," said Mr Cole. "Around 300 farmers leave the industry there every year and with just a quarter of that number replacing them, they need more farmers."

In Wales, the resumption of the beef export trade could be worth £100 million to Welsh farmers.

Whitland farmer and NFU Cymru president, Dai Davies, regards it as a new dawn for the industry. "It will bring new opportunities for new markets in Continental Europe with a bearing on the prices farmers receive," he said.