Australia, in stark contrast, saw low exports in 2021 due to rebuilding the herd that had been liquidated due to drought, which benefited New Zealand at least in terms of volume.
North America continues to face drought and no doubt that contributes to declining herd numbers in the US, but there are many factors including calf costs vs returns that contribute to the contrasting picture for the two regions.
So, with demand strong, how much of a role does sustainability play in exports? Bord Bia surveyed consumers in the UAE recently and found that many consumers there have been making efforts to buy more sustainably produced food, and they see that Ireland has potential to capitalise on that trend. Similar research undertaken by Bord Bia in the UK shows that consumers there are also increasingly concerned with sustainability.
Interestingly, it does not appear that sustainability concerns are driving a significant move to plant based products, and even if they did, that it would automatically impact meat production. Of course at the moment, the price of plant based products probably precludes widespread replacement. A recent study suggests that even if prices fell, it might not have much of an effect on beef production, in any case.
This recent article by Frédéric Lefroy and colleagues points out the hazards of reductionist approaches to nutrition ( or “nutritionism” as they call it), resulting in problematic issues such as “disproportionate stigmatisation of animal-source foods as harmful for human and planetary health.”
I also recommend this blog examining the role of animal source foods in ethical, sustainable and healthy diets, established by Frédéric Lefroy with contributions from many experts.
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You may recall that in our 2019 Communications Summit, we heard from Howard Parry Husbands of Pollinate, who undertook a meta-analysis of consumer surveys from around the world provided by our members.
Howard recently told me that one trend he has observed since the advent of the pandemic is “guilt fatigue.” Consumers are tired of being told what they must not do. They want to be able to enjoy the things that they have enjoyed throughout their lives, whether that is travel or eating meat. They appear to be looking for ways to enjoy those things in guilt-free ways, i.e., sustainable travel or meat, which, as long as it is affordable, is a win-win for the consumer.
We are planning another Communicators Summit immediately prior to our Global Conference on Sustainable Beef in November (taking place in Denver). I would very much like to update that meta-analysis with Pollinate as it seems certain to show some marked changes from the previous one, and given the findings that Howard and Bord Bia have seen, these changes are likely to be significant for beef with sustainability credentials.
We’ll be taking a look at some retail case studies in our March webinar that I hope will also give some pointers to trends retailers are seeing and how that influences their marketing of sustainability.
