British Game Assurance (BGA) enjoyed a year of triumph in the face of adversity as it continues its fierce commitment to the idea of assured game taking its rightful place on the British dinner table.

According to its latest annual report, 2022 saw a third cycle of anxiety across the shooting and food business worlds in which BGA operates – from post-pandemic and war-related shortages of feed, diesel, gas, labour, and ammunition to avian influenza.

Despite this, the shooting sector has stood firm and BGA achieved many goals; game being served in the NHS, selling Eat Wild products direct to the public, a strong presence at shows across the UK, the perfect roast-pheasant-to-go, pioneering Plan for the Plate, and much more. They broke new grounds in two industries, bringing farm-assurance to game shooting and wild shot game to consumers and outlets that have never tried it.

BGA believes shoots must see themselves as food producers if they want game dealers to collect and pay for their produce, and this process begins with communication.

The Plan for the Plate initiative welded the link between game dealers and shoots early in the year. Further to this, BGA is now synonymous with game meat in the minds of the wider press and public, as witnessed when The Times mentioned British Game Assurance in an article about avoiding heart disease. BGA itself featured in over 86 pieces of coverage across national, regional, print and online publications.

BGA is the only scheme to provide the certified, farm-assurance equivalent auditing that is demanded by so much of the food sector. It allows BGA to pioneer new outlets for game, growing the exposure and support for the shooting community. Its industry-leading shoot assurance scheme has now survived two years of COVID and the 2022 bird flu outbreak.

The shooting community itself showed its strong support of BGA in 2022, demonstrated by the £100,000 raised at the Lord Botham clay day in August. The levy is how guns can contribute to the marketing of every game bird. It is how BGA derive support directly from the shooting community. It also makes BGA accountable to everyone who chooses to pay the levy, and to everyone who collects it.

Eat Wild, BGA’s public-facing campaign for game, also hit new heights, launching a range of easy to cook game meat and pioneering rubs, the perfect stress-free way to season game dishes and create some stunning flavours.

Liam Stokes, CEO of British Game Assurance, said: “I hope you can all find a post-season moment to sit and digest everything the team has achieved over the past 12 months. We are small group of four committed individuals, supported by some of the most dedicated people in shooting. We work from home. We are a guerrilla insurgency for game.

“With our message of healthy, assured, ethical game for all, we can reach audiences no shooting organisation can. Thanks to your extraordinary support, we will go on delivering that message in new and creative ways throughout 2023 and beyond.”

To read the full end of year report, click here.