Farmer Focus : Chris Fogden

CONTRARY TO my comments four weeks ago, it appears DEFRA and the RPA are anxious outdoor pig keeping is not greatly disadvantaged by cross-compliance.

As a sector historically free of price and production support and manipulation under old style CAP, the pig industry, along with other unsupported sectors, is some way down the road the more supported sectors might follow.

 Add to this the welfare advantages of outdoor pigs and we tick many boxes on the EU/DEFRA wish-list. Hopefully then, as long as we make an effort over cross-compliance, when there is a disaster, such as soil run-off from freak weather conditions, we should not be penalised greatly. I only hope the policy makers communicate this to those charged with inspecting and enforcing.

Due to a change in requirements for the supply chain we are in, all the nursery and finishing farms are upgrading to Freedom Foods production standards. Fortunately for me, the breeding herd is already monitored by Freedom Foods.

A few of the nursery and finishing sites needed little change, having produced to the standards in the past. Some of the others that easily met Assured British Pigs requirements needed a little adjustment to feed hoppers, drinkers and stocking levels to comply.

One thing that was closely looked at was carcass disposal. We run two systems. For the breeding herd a covered skip is hired and removed and replaced as required.

This is as yet not subsidised through the National Fallen Stock Scheme, but its convenience nearly makes up for this. Unlike some of the large pig scheme operators, I pay for carcass disposal from farms keeping pigs for me. For this we use the national scheme via an efficient collection service, but the cost of this is significant.

 I have bitten the bullet on feed prices and fixed prices right through to the end of August 2006. The chance of raw material prices falling further is less than the risk to my business if they were to rise for some unforeseen reason.