Sustainable beef production and profitable beef production go hand in hand and in many instances the aspects that make a business sustainable are also those that make it profitable.

Asda is committed to working with its BeefLink producer group farmers to help them deliver increased profits as that is to the benefit of both farmers and consumers.

Profitable farm businesses are able to invest for the future which, in turns deliver sustainability at both a farm and retail level.

Without sustained profitability productivity drops and that means there is less British beef for Asda to sell.

Increasing beef sales are good for Asda and good for farmers and at a time when the UK beef retail market is largely static Asda has, through innovation, been able to boost sales significantly.

By moving to skin packs for all steaks Asda has increased steak sales by 20% ahead of its competitors and by 32% overall on a market which is declining by 4.7%.

This has been achieved by increasing quality, through 21 day maturation and also through new promotions, such as two 8oz steaks for £7. Importantly skin packs mean steaks can be on the shelf for 10 days, giving steaks two weekends on the shelf, greatly reducing waste.

And, while steak has traditionally been a seasonal seller, the switch has seen winter sales as strong as summer sales, when traditionally it had been very hard to sell in winter.

Additionally, the introduction of ‘Roast in the Tray’ beef joints had defied the market too, lifting sales and resulting in increased demand for British beef.

This innovative way of packaging and selling beef had been introduced as a result of customer feedback which suggested a lot of shoppers were nervous of cooking beef.

‘Roast in the Tray’ joints take 30% less time to cook, putting beef in the same league as chicken and ready meals for cooking time and convenience.

As a result of the new ‘Roast in the Tray’ packaging beef joint sales have jumped by 19.1% at a time when the market is declining by 5%.

But all of this wouldn’t be possible without the beef to sell and that’s where our BeefLink scheme really comes in to its own, providing significant benefits to both our farmers, our dedicated processor ABP and ourselves.

Through a range of initiatives BeefLink has returned more than £39m back to the industry since it was set up in 2007 and it continues to support and inspire farmers every day of the week.

This is done in a number of ways, not least through providing access to discounted semen, grass seed and a variety of other inputs at the same time as opening the market and allowing our farmers to produce beef in the most efficient way possible.

The biggest limitation in suckler beef production is the amount of land you have. Therefore, to increase farm productivity we have to measure and increase output on a per hectare basis with a target of 750Kg liveweight per hectare being the goal.

BeefLink farmers are encouraged to achieve this through a number of ways, with the production of young bulls a central theme.

Young bulls have a superior feed conversion efficiency and that, coupled with having cattle on-farm for less time can mean farmers can carry up to 30% more cows on the same land. Also, provided it is slaughtered at under 16 months old, there is no detrimental effect on eating quality, in fact many of our Asda steak competitions, judged by leading chefs such as James Martin, have been won by beef from young bulls.

Asda also accepts carcasses from heavy cattle, that is cattle with carcass weights of between 450kg and 550kg, thus allowing our farmers to get the maximum benefit from the elite genetics we are offering them through BeefLink.

On a BeefLink National Suckler Strategy Group study trip to the USA in 2013 a number of our beef farmers saw first-hand what composite breeding and improving feed efficiency could mean to a suckler herd.

Looking at the suckler herd itself it is important to ensure cows are as efficient as possible. Selecting for Net Feed Efficiency in the maternal line will be hugely important going forward as will a stronger focus on longevity and fertility.