Andersons Centre reports over fivefold return on LMC expenditure
An independent economic evaluation of the Livestock and Meat Commission’s (LMC) expenditure has confirmed that every £1 spent by LMC is associated with £5.70 of economic contribution on a gross value added basis, or £18.3m a year in total.
Stakeholders from across the beef and sheepmeat sectors came together earlier this week at Edenmore House to hear The Andersons Centre present its findings.
Commenting Colin Smith, LMC Chief Executive said: “This independent economic evaluation quantifies for the very first time the magnitude of LMC’s activity, putting a monetary value on the return we deliver from LMC’s funds.”
The statutory levy is collected in equal parts from farmers and processors and contributes towards funding activities that support the development and promotion of the NI beef and sheepmeat sectors.
Colin continued: “The Andersons Centre sought the views of stakeholders across farming, processing, trade, academia and policy areas and presented LMC with anonymised findings. Stakeholder views helped validate the in-depth Economic Contribution Analysis completed as part of the work. The evaluation outlines in-depth the support for and economic benefits associated with our activities.
"Significantly, independent views on a counterfactual world without LMC were explored with the findings highlighting LMC’s economic contribution substantially in excess of current spend.”
According to the independent evaluation, LMC costs the equivalent of 17.9p for every £100 of red meat sales, of which the levy accounts for around 8.0p.
Colin remarked: “Total annual expenditure of £3.2m in real terms sits against an industry sales base of £1.78bn. The analysis implies that industry sales would be approximately £32m a year lower in the absence of LMC. This statistic accompanied by the over fivefold return per £1 of spend underscores the importance of LMC’s work on behalf of levy payers and the beef and sheepmeat sector.”
The LMC Chief Executive concluded by highlighting that this independent evaluation provides strong evidence of the significant economic contribution LMC’s levy funded work is having at present. However, he emphasised that while this sets a benchmark, the focus remains on working collaboratively with stakeholders to maximise opportunities for the industry.
He said: “As the Commission works through the final year of its current strategic plan we will continue to meet with stakeholders from across the beef and sheepmeat sectors to drive important conversations about the focus for levy expenditure in the future.”