EVIDENCE and facts, rather than 'headline grabbing' sensationalism, was to the fore at the first of a series of 'Setting the sheep farming record straight meetings organised by the National Sheep Association.

Kicking off at the Welshpool Livestock Market, Powys, the NSA was joined at the event by British Wool and Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Promotion Wales to counteract the 'almost weekly headlines claiming agriculture is responsible for many of the environmental and health problems' facing society.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: It feels absolutely the right thing to do to be putting effort into positioning our industry as a solution and not the cause of global problems. Weve experienced unprecedented criticism and attack for the duration of this year. These meetings are the perfect platform to share evidence-based facts and statistics on what the actual situation is rather than that which many of the headline grabbing media would have you believe.

HCC meat quality executive Dr Eleri Thomas said: It was good to see a really engaged audience at Welshpool, raising exactly the issues that will be important for us as a levy board over the coming months. We discussed how the industry could give a unified response to the misleading media coverage on livestock farming and meat-free food.

"Also, we had the opportunity to explore how HCCs industry development work such as the Red Meat Development Programme feeds through into outcomes that have a wide benefit, for instance waste reduction, increasing shelf-life, and telling a consistent story to the consumer of how Welsh red meat is a sustainable, high-welfare, high-quality product.

British Wool was there to demonstrate its work to promote the high welfare standards of UK sheep farmers and shearers. Producer marketing executive Laura Johnson said: Working together with farmers to negate any negativity around animal welfare in the sheep farming industry is important and these meetings are doing that by giving farmers the confidence to defend their industry against false or misrepresented information.

NSA and British Wool will travel to Penrith and District Farmers Mart this Thursday, October 31, for their next farmer meeting. A full list of the future meetings with dates and locations can be found at http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/events. All meetings are free to attend and open to all involved in the sheep sector, whether an NSA member or not.

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Sheep industry unites to set the record straight - The Scottish Farmer