A competition to find a UK sheep farmer to front the Love Lamb Week campaign next year has been launched by the National Sheep Association (NSA).
The annual event was established by Cumbrian sheep farmer Rachel Lumley, who passed away in 2020.
The successful farmer will take on Ms Lumley's legacy and ambition to improve the nation's taste for lamb through manning the social media accounts for the next year while working alongside industry organisations to ensure a consistent message is shared.
Farmers must be aged 18 or over, and live and work in the UK, with sheep farming their main source of income.
The new incumbent will take over from Charlie Beaty (pictured), who works alongside her dad and uncle on their 1,000-acre mixed livestock and arable tenant farm near Coventry, Warwickshire.
Highlighting the importance of farmers' telling their own story, NSA communications officer Katie James said: "That is why [we] are searching for a farmer who is happy to share their working life with the British public via social media to help inform and educate on sheep production and its environmental and nutritional credentials."
Championing this year's campaign, NFU livestock board chair Richard Findlay added it was a good time to remind the Government that everyone can benefit from a trade policy that recognises the value of British lamb, worth £2.5 billion to the national economy.
Open until 5pm on Wednesday, September 15, applications can be submitted online via nationalsheep.org.uk
Love Lamb Week highlights Scots sustainability credentials
Scotch Lamb's sustainability credentials have been put to the forefront as Love Lamb Week gets underway.
Quality Meat Scotland said it would be using the campaign to highlight the use of grass-fed systems, plus plenty of rainfall, in Scotland's hills and uplands to produce a 'succulent, tasty, local delight'.
This Love Lamb Week will also introduce the next wave of QMS' ‘Make it with Field Cred' and AHDB's 'We Eat Balanced' campaigns - both of which have contributed to rising red meat sales throughout 2021.
NFU Scotland's livestock policy manager, Hannah Baker, said: "Here in Scotland, sheep and farming are almost synonymous. Regardless of whether you live in the highlands or the lowlands, it is hard to look out at our currently sunny landscape without seeing sheep. That is why celebrating such a local, sustainable product this week is a real opportunity for the industry.
"The weather and landscape in Scotland make it one of the most suitable places in the world to sustainably farm and produce lamb locally and we need to use every opportunity we get - including Love Lamb Week - to push that message to the consumer."
