In his speech to the BeefTech 2025 conference earlier today, Scott Donaldson, Group Director for H&H Group Plc asked why on earth our best-in-class beef suckler industry was sliding into decline while global beef production is soaring.

"Nobody outside agriculture seems to care that numbers of suckler cows in the UK's herds are in free fall." Scott told a packed audience of Scottish farmers and stakeholders at BeefTech 2025 at Home Farm, Kininmonth, near Peterhead. "But I don't need to tell you how crucial the suckler cow is to the livestock industry, the environment, and to the production of the highest quality food in our supermarkets."

With the growing government and consumer insistence on environmental care in farming and on the sustainability of British food, the beef our home-grown sucker herds produce should be a source of pride on every count, he suggested.

 "British Beef and more especially Scottish Beef has, without doubt, the best environmental credentials in the world. British Beef could and maybe should be the Gold Standard? And if it is, does that make Scottish Beef the Platinum Standard?"

"Environmental 'good' is the yardstick for our farmers today, and our suckler herds play a key part in maintaining the biodiversity of hill ground ecosystems. Grazing helps manage a varied landscape and their presence contributes to nutrient cycling through dung which enriches the soil and supports invertebrate life.

"By mimicking natural grazing patterns suckler cows help sustain traditional, low intensity farming systems that are crucial for preserving the ecological balance and cultural heritage of upland environments. We need a much wider recognition that beef cattle reared this way do far more to enhance the environment than harm it."

But British, Northern Hemisphere beef is losing out to cheaper imports largely from Southern Hemisphere countries whose environmental practices and carbon footprints would scandalise UK consumers if they were committed by British beef producers.

"It's bizarre considering the climate challenges the Southern Hemisphere is faced with -drought, flood, disease, whereas here in the UK we have a climate suited to growing grass, we have water in abundance, and we have no need to cut down rain forests to grow the soyabeans and maize beef cattle are raised on in many of those countries.

"British Beef and more especially Scottish Beef has, without doubt, the best environmental credentials in the world. British Beef could and maybe should be the Gold Standard? And if it is, does that make Scottish Beef the Platinum Standard?"

There is clearly a major disconnect in the consumer's understanding of the difference in the environmental credentials of British versus imported beef. There is also, said Scott Donaldson, a serious misperception in the UK consumer's view of the cost of British beef.

"A few wee comparisons highlight that red meat is only just beginning to catch up with other household expenses. The price of a kilo of beef mince rose 255% from 1975 to 1995 and 141% from 1995 to 2025.

"In comparison a pint of beer increased by 730% and then 200% over the same periods. So I do not believe that beef is expensive, and we need to get that message across. What's expensive is a Sky or Netflix subscription. If households spent the same figure per month on red meat, we would definitely need more cattle."

Figures released for last year show the demise of the British suckler herd has been dramatic. Since 2000 the suckler herd in the UK has fallen from 1.8 million to 825,000 and the abattoirs have been fighting for volume. So what does the future hold for British beef?

"The hospitality and food service industries are under severe pressure, so you will see more and more foreign beef on their menus. Australian, New Zealand and Uruguayan beef is readily available.

"Demand will continue to outstrip supply, so we have to keep banging the drum about British being the best and ensure that our major retailers are entirely honest with their labelling and call them out if they are not. And we must make sure the British consumer has the information so that they can make the right choice and Buy British."