Is the EUROP grid fit for the future?

There are few subjects more likely to cause debate among beef and sheep farmers than that of carcase classification and the EUROP grid.

The grid, which is the common classification system used across EU countries, has been in existence since the 1970s and forms the basis of UK cattle and sheep purchase pricing mechanisms, with the ‘base price’ reflecting a point on the grid and premiums or penalties applied for deviations from the base point.

In recent years, some people have begun to question whether the EUROP grid does a good job of communicating consumer and retailer demands, with parts of the industry suggesting we should move towards a system of rewarding producers for factors which impact the consumer such as meat quality.

This has coincided with some significant changes in the beef and lamb sector, including the approval of Video Image Analysis (VIA) in the UK, which has led to the installation of automated methods of classification with little human intervention in some plants. This has received a mixed response from farmers, which is not surprising since this represents the most radical shake-up of classification methods for many years.

With a potential blank canvas in the pricing of cattle and sheep once we leave the EU, the industry has the opportunity to rethink how we approach carcase evaluation and develop a system that places emphasis on the factors that are important to today’s supply chains and consumers. Other countries have followed this route, for example the United States and Australia, and have a clear market offering that conveys prices based on eating quality.

As part of the project, we have reviewed classification methods used in these countries and elsewhere overseas, including Canada, South Africa, South America and Japan, and have been actively speaking to key stakeholders to find out their opinions.

We are now keen to get wider industry views to help assess whether there is a broader appetite for change in carcase classification methods and identify what any new system needs to do. The specific questions can be found in the ‘fit for the future’ paper, which is available online at beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk.

Interested parties can submit their views by 8 September to carcase@ahdb.org.uk. Results will then be analysed in September and, if there is strong industry support, a consultation will be launched over the winter.

I would encourage any producers with strong views to use this opportunity to make their opinions heard. The chance to influence something as important as carcase evaluation doesn’t come along very often!