LMC & UFU Join Forces for NI Beef Week 2021
The Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) are working in collaboration with the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), to celebrate Northern Ireland’s world class beef this NI Beef Week. This year the weeklong event, running from 23rd to 30th April will focus on how Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured (NIFQA) beef is farmed with the environment in mind, and is naturally nutritious.
LMC chief executive Ian Stevenson commented, “We are once again proud to be leading the way through the Northern Ireland Beef week initiative, which provides a great opportunity to showcase our responsibly produced, nutritious, world class beef. As the Northern Ireland beef and lamb industry’s promotional body LMC is constantly looking at trends in the marketplace at home and abroad so that we can understand what is driving consumer behaviour and the choices they make when they are shopping for meal solutions. There is no doubt in our minds that Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured Beef is truly world class, and our planned activity during beef week works hard to promote the very positive story we have to tell.
Our activity during beef week will use the sensory experience that comes with cooking and eating high quality beef as a tool to engage consumers in the positive story that the beef industry has to tell in addressing global challenges such as climate change and meeting the nutritional needs of a growing population.”
Ian commented on how NIFQA beef farmers are contributing to an environmentally progressive industry; “Northern Irish beef farmers continue to farm regeneratively, improving grasslands, planting hedgerows and trees which provide a habitat for many small animals as well as storing significant amounts of carbon in grasslands. This is why we are in the perfect climate to produce our world class, grass fed beef, which in return gives consumers a local product which is naturally rich in macro and micro nutrients which we will be highlighting during beef week.”
Beef Week 2021 takes place from the 23rd to 30th April. Promotional activities have had to become virtually based to comply with Covid-19 guidelines. However, this has not hindered plans as LMC are undertaking a series of activity throughout the week in collaboration with Belfast live and U105, alongside local chef and ‘Truth About Beef’ presenter, James Devine. LMC will deliver a social media campaign across both their LMC, and Beef and Lamb NI Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, reaching a wide demographic of consumers.
The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) are planning to work alongside social media influencer ‘Dish You Were Here’, to promote NIFQA beef. Dish You Were Here run a very successful food blogging page on Instagram with over 36,000 followers. They will demonstrate how to cook a beef dish using NIFQA beef while informing their followers of the benefits of the beef industry to the environment and why they should always look for the NIFQA logo. The UFU will also run a social media campaign through their own Facebook, Twitter and newly founded Instagram account promoting the benefits of eating NIFQA beef on the environment through images and videos.
UFU deputy president William Irvine said, “We are delighted to be collaborating with LMC for Beef Week 2021. It’s such an important initiative providing a much-needed opportunity to focus on our high-quality, versatile NIFQA beef, produced to world leading environmental and animal welfare standards.
“With climate change being at the top of everyone’s agenda and following the recent support given by several of our local political parties regarding proposals to legislate for net zero by 2045 in NI- which could wipe out half of our livestock farmers just to meet a legislative target that does not seem to have any scientific basis – its important now more than ever to showcase the magnitude and sustainability of local beef farming in NI. From our extensive grass-fed systems to the key role our beef farmers have in tackling climate change and caring for the environment and wildlife. The beef sector is a major driving force within agriculture, one of our most successful industries and we will be working to promote its significant contributions to NI in entirety, throughout beef week.”
