Announced by the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, at the Royal Welsh Show, the programme is expected to engage with all aspects of the supply chain, boosting farm productivity while ensuring that future red meat production meets the demand of an ever-changing and increasingly discerning consumer, both at home and abroad.
The Programme will be delivered by HCC in collaboration with industry partners, and will consist of three strategic projects that will focus on animal health, genetics and meat quality.
Flock and herd health planning
Within the animal health planning section of the project, HCC plans to deliver, in conjunction with partner organisations and veterinary practitioners, a workstream that will demonstrate the long-term benefits of proactive flock and herd health planning.
The genetics project will seek to highlight how using rams with known genetic performance can have a positive impact on the Welsh sheep flock.
The third component of the Programme will be a supply chain-led project that will look to assess and develop the meat quality of Welsh Lamb. The project will centre on evaluating practices that can be adopted pre- and post-farmgate to secure and enhance Welsh Lamb’s position as a premium product.
‘Future competitiveness’
HCC’s industry development and relations manager John Richards said: “This is an exciting programme of investment in our red meat sector, taking a whole supply chain approach. HCC believes strongly in the future of the industry. With this targeted strategic work in the areas of animal health planning and genetics, as well as meat quality, we can drive the improvements that will be crucial to its future competitiveness.
“HCC has worked for a sustained period to formulate an ambitious plan for a prosperous future for Welsh agriculture,” he added. “We thank the Cabinet Secretary for this investment, and look forward to making further announcements in the near future about how this work will be delivered.”
Griffiths said: “The Programme will play an important role in facilitating an improvement in the competitiveness of the red meat supply chain in Wales. As we prepare to leave the EU, this funding will help drive up the red meat industry’s resilience pre- and post-Brexit.”