Cooking with children, speaking at seminars on sustainability and judging young shepherds - just some of the activities undertaken by the Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) team at the busy NSA Welsh Sheep event last week.
The biannual sheep sector showcase held at Tregoyd Farm, Brecon was an excellent opportunity to engage with farmers and the wider industry on HCC activity.
Working in partnership with Castell Howell, over 100 pupils from five local schools enjoyed an opportunity to cook Welsh Lamb meatballs with HCC’s Elwen Roberts. Along with Castell Howell’s Edward Morgan, she told the Welsh Way story of producing red meat and presented positive messages on the health benefits of consuming it.
Elwen said: “We were joined by enthusiastic groups of children who thoroughly enjoyed making – and eating – the Welsh Lamb meatballs with a healthy tomato and veg sauce. It was great to work with Castell Howell, who, in addition to supplying the ingredients for the session, gifted two local schools with Welsh Lamb legs for the school dinner menu ahead of the event!”
As well as being a mainline sponsor, HCC also supported the NSA’s seminar series on the day. Dr Heather McCalman, Research and Development and Sustainability Executive at HCC joined a panel of guest speakers to discuss “Improving sheep farming profitability and sustainability through genetics and nutrition.”
Dr McCalman said: “I was delighted to be a part of this panel. The seminar was a great opportunity to showcase HCC’s Research and Development portfolio which is delivered to underpin the marketing of PGI Welsh Lamb as well as to support the supply chain to tackle key industry challenges. It was a chance to highlight new initiatives like the Land Use for Net Zero (LUNZ) Grasslands project where we are working with ten farmers across Wales in a UK-wide multi-partner programme, as well as the Breeding Better Beef and Sheep project. I also flagged opportunities to be a RamCompare farm host and a Meat Minds participant, and helped gather stakeholder views to inform HCC’s new Vision 2030.”
Vision 2030 is an important strategic document that sets the organisation’s priorities in supporting the red meat industry for the next four years. The team held numerous discussions with levy payers who were encouraged to fill in an online survey during the event to make their views heard.
