The appetite for red meat and dairy has increased among Gen Z consumers, AHDB has found.
Between September 2025 and January 2026, red meat purchase intent among Gen Z rose by eight percentage points, alongside a three percentage point increase for dairy.
These findings come as AHDB’s Let’s Eat Balanced campaign returned on 1 September appearing on screens, social feeds and supermarket aisles.
Across the year, it reaches 91% of adults an average of nine times, while social content generated 265 million impressions and 41 million engagements.
“Building on several years of sustained investment and consistent communications, the campaign is helping to strengthen positive perceptions, reinforce confidence in British produce and grow a core group of consumer advocates,” said Carrie McDermid, AHDB head of marketing.
“This positive momentum creates an opportunity to further engage future consumers, with recent audience insight highlighting growing openness among younger audiences to be more informed about where their food comes from and more connected to the farmers that produce it.”
Data from Bord Bia found similar results with yonger shoppers over indexing for beef consideration with 49% of 18-44s considering beef on their last main-meal shop, comapred to 43% of UK shoppers overall.
The Irish body also found that younger consumers also appear to need more help navigating nutrition with 66% of 18–24s and 62% of 25–34s saying they are often challenged to make nutritious food choices, compared with 43% of those aged 65+.
Bord Bia said this offers an opportunity to make beef’s existing nutritional credentials more relevant at different life stages.
At the same time, new research from AHDB has showed that while younger consumers remain less likely than older generations to describe farmers as trustworthy, the research suggests this reflects distance rather than criticism.
AHDB said it pointed to a clear opportunity for farmers and the wider industry to build stronger connections with this influential group.
Its Consumer Trust Study found that 77% of UK consumers agreed farmers are trustworthy, rising to 82% among those aged over 65.
The figure fell below average to 69% among 18 to 24-year-olds, prompting AHDB to commission further research to understand this generation’s relationship with food and farming in more depth.
The additional research found there was a level of support among Gen Z for British farming, but that Gen Z’s understanding of modern farming practices was found to be limited and often shaped by outdated or romanticised imagery.
“This research confirms what we’d long suspected – Gen Z aren’t rejecting British farming, they just don’t have enough visibility of it,” said Steve Evans, lead consumer insight manager at AHDB. “Both the Gen Z consumers and the young farmers we spoke to told us the same thing: understanding grows when farming is seen, not just described.”
Both Gen Z consumers and young farmers independently identified the same root cause of the disconnect: farming’s lack of presence on social media.
Evans added that the challenge isn’t “changing minds, it’s making farming visible”.
“That’s not a job for one or two farmers to do alone – it needs a coordinated, industry-wide effort,” he said.
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