EBLEX Ltd is the new Beef and Lamb Sector Company for England.  It is a wholly-owned company of the new Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) which was established on 1 April 2008.

The EBLEX Ltd Board oversees a strategy delivering a wide range of technology transfer, marketing and promotional programmes to farmers, consumers and businesses in the beef and lamb supply chain. 

Funded through an AHDB levy paid on all cattle and sheep slaughtered in or exported from England, EBLEX Ltd also obtains additional grant funding for specific projects from a range of sources. 

Total EBLEX levy income for 2006/07 stood at approximately £12.5 million.

The EBLEX Ltd Strategy

The philosophy at the heart of EBLEX Ltd is to deliver activities that add value to levy payers’ businesses and reduce costs.

The Board of EBLEX Ltd has developed a strategy which addresses the challenges faced by the beef and sheep sector and focuses on joined up delivery to levy payers.

The strategy is:

• Promoting better returns for the beef and sheep industry
• Stimulating a profitable demand for quality beef and lamb
• Championing the development of a sustainable industry

This strategy is delivered through three EBLEX Ltd core products:

• Better Returns – work either at farm level or near the farm gate designed to improve the profitability of cattle and sheep production

• Sustainable Supply Chains – all ‘whole chain’ activity designed to connect the food chain

• Building Profitable Markets – striving to build a positive business environment with activities designed to drive demand through trade, export marketing and promotional activities.

Core product activity

Better returns for the beef and lamb supply chain start on farm.  EBLEX Ltd is investing in a growing programme of technology transfer work under its Beef and Sheep Better Returns Programmes to help farmers make more from their businesses. 

The reference point for work on farm is the Business Pointers publication published by EBLEX Ltd each November.  This is an analysis of on-farm costings for a range of beef and sheep businesses providing a benchmark to measure ongoing industry profitability.

In the supply chain sector, EBLEX Ltd has over 300 projects running with various beef and lamb supply chain businesses.  These projects cover areas as diverse as nutrition, retail packaging, butchery techniques and product innovation.

Foodservice and catering is also a key area of EBLEX activity, focusing on work with school chefs, restaurants, caterers, butchers and the foodservice sector. 

Further information on EBLEX Ltd work in the foodservice and retail sectors can be found at www.eblexfoodservice.co.uk and www.eblexretail.co.uk

Promotional activity to help build profitable markets is carried out under the EBLEX Ltd Quality Standard Scheme, which is recognised as a food quality scheme satisfying EU state aids rules.  It is the UK’s only beef and lamb scheme to carry an eating quality requirement.

Under the scheme, beef and lamb is eligible to carry the Quality Standard Mark if it has been reared on a farm that is a member of a recognised farm assurance scheme (such as those meeting the requirements of Assured Food Standards).  It must also have been produced and processed through an EBLEX Ltd -approved, fully assured supply chain.

The Scheme has over 2,700 individual business members, including 12 multiple retailers, wholesalers, hotels, independent butchers and farm shops.

For more information on the latest Quality Standard promotional campaigns, visit www.beefyandlamby.co.uk