DEFRA has been urged to follow President Bidens lead, after he agreed to spend $1bn dollars on expanding independent meat processing capacity in the USA.
The money will be channelled through the American Rescue Plan, and comes on top of $500m the US Department of Agriculture made available in July 2021 for increasing capacity to boost competition in the sector.
President Biden acted after a surge in meat prices in America, which he blamed on the major processors, accusing them of paying too little to producers and charging retailers too much.
This charge was denied by the industry, which blamed worker shortages for inflation instead.
Rare Breeds Survival Trust chief executive Christopher Price said: The White House has recognised the harm caused to family farms as a result of the processing sector becoming over-consolidated and is investing in smaller abattoirs to address the balance, ensuring producers can continue to receive a fair price.
We are seeing similar challenges in the UK, with the decline in the local abattoir network making it ever harder to find abattoirs capable of processing small numbers of non-standard animals and returning all the by-products.
This is having a severe effect on our sustainable livestock sector. Defra needs to be thinking about whether they should be following the Presidents lead and investing in the future.
John Mettrick, who owns a small abattoir in Derbyshire and who has been instrumental in lobbying the Government to support the sector in recent years, said he had been left frustrated by the departments lack of action.
I do feel frustrated, he said.
I dread having to talk to small abattoir owners who will ask me what has changed after talking for three years.
There are various groups, the Small Abattoir Working Group, the Abattoir Sector Group and now they are even talking about another working group.
There is no shortage of groups being formed, but a big shortage of action being taken.
