Apathy mars pig producer elections
2 November 2000
Apathy mars pig producer elections
By Alistair Driver
APATHY has marred the first democratic elections to the National Pig Association producer group, the results of which are due on Friday (3 November).
Only 400 farmers have voted in the election. This represents 30% of the NPA membership and just around 10% of all pig producers.
Sixteen places on the producer group, allocated on a regional basis, were up for grabs. But there is a lot more at stake for the NPA.
It has struggled to attract members since its formation last year and is currently having to cut down on its activities because of a shortage of cash.
NPA leaders blame the parlous state of the industry as well as a failure to create a reliable database of pig farmers across the country.
The NPA also faced criticism from some producers when it failed to support a high-profile High Court case against the Ministry of Agriculture.
The British Pig Industry Support Group, a group of grass-roots farmers, eventually lost its claim that ministers had discriminated against pig producers.
Neverthless, a number of leading BPISG figures are now expected to be voted on to the NPA producer group in the associations first democratic elections.
Producer group chairman Stewart Houston said it remains to be seen whether this has the effect of galvanising more pig farmers into joining the association.
The response to the election was disappointing, he said, particularly because the NPA offered cheap membership to attract new members prior to the elections.
Meetings designed to give candidates a platform were badly attended, said Mr Houston, who was one of the founders of the BPISG.
“When you think 4000 people came to a march in London and 500 came to a crisis meeting in Yorkshire in 1998, it is disappointing only 400 people voted.”
However, Mr Houston insisted that there will be a future for the NPA even if it fails to attract significant numbers of new members in the short term.
He added: “We will just have to cut our cloth to suit our circumstances.”