Organic Lamb: the issues according to John Brennan

Along with Beef, sheep makes up the biggest sector within Irish organic farming. This year, as in other years, most farmers opting to convert to organic before May 15th were either in sheep or beef.

While organic beef is relatively successful, organic lamb is far more challenging. In general, conventional lamb sales are down in Ireland, the UK and the rest of the EU, so both organic and conventional sheep farmers face challenges.

(pic: John Brennan - second from the end of the right, at BioFach with the heads of the five families...)

Some farmers who already have a low stocking rate seem happy to convert to organic and collect the improved supports, while still mostly selling into the conventional market.

John Brennan can claim expertise on three fronts. A farmer himself, he also heads the Leitrim Organic Farmers' Co-op, which has 150 members many of them with sheep. He is also completing an MA in Organic Agriculture, specialising in the organic lamb market for his research.

John suggests that �market conditions are difficult and producer sentiment poor�.

�The real issue is that organic lamb in Scotland is 4.51 Euros, whereas in Ireland it is 6 Euro per kilo. Add to this the fact that sterling is weaker and the production costs are lower over there.�

He goes on: �The Irish organic lamb market is about 11,000, whereas Scotland produces 100,000�. In both cases the primary market is the home market.

Inevitably, what holds for Scotland also holds for Northern Ireland with regard to sterling.

For his research, John Brennan surveyed 90 sheep farmers and interviewed a number of processors. He found that September is the biggest month for sales, with 33% of all sheep sold sold in this month. August clocks in at 11%, July 14%. So over half of all organic sheep sold are sold in this period.

�Seasonality is an issue for the rest of the year. This year we scraped through. If a processor said he wanted 40 extra lambs, it would have been difficult to establish.�

Regarding the market, Brennan points out that �there is a solid price for hoggets in the early part of the year, from January to May. Early lambs get a premium. However many of the September sales end up in the conventional market.�

Along with his survey research, Brennan understands the practical issues in securing sales. Marks and Spenser's (M&S) are the main outlet for Leitrim Co-op's organic lamb.

M&S have 27 stores in the south and 14 in Northern Ireland. �M&S want lambs from both north and south of border,� according to Brennan. This inevitably puts pressure on price.

A major issue for the organic lamb market in general is the retailer's cut. According to Brennan �I was talking to supermarket buyer who was taking a 50% mark up in lamb. I could not understand how the market could survive on this. When I asked him, he said that lamb was very profitable, but that he was selling very little because its too expensive. However, he seemed to prefer the good profit over increasing volume of sales�.

With consumers more price aware than ever, and more willing to bulk buy and fill the freezer, this sort of mark up is a barrier to increased sales.

Consumer education also needs to be improved, he suggests, as many consumers do not know how to cook lamb. Product differentiation for organic lamb too is a concern.

To try to secure foreign non-sterling markets, Brennan represented the Co-op as Slaney Meat's preferred supplier at the BioFach organic trade show in Germany this year.

One approach the Co-op are spearheading is direct sales. They have been instrumental in developing the mobile butcher units in the north west, and now have a simple but effective direct sales section on their website for consumers.

This section allows consumers to purchase half or whole spring lambs for the freezer. The meat is then brought to the selected farmers' market for collection. The market must be on at least five days after the order is made, to allow time for processing.

This provides the consumer with a genuine alternative to multiple retailers, provided they are willing and able to bulk buy.

Leitrim co-op: here