Cotswold pulls out of major pig fair

1 December 1999



Cotswold pulls out of major pig fair

Alistair Driver

THE Cotswold Pig Development Company has pulled out of next years Pig and Poultry Fair and urged other companies to follow suit.

The Lincolnshire-based breeding company felt rents were too high given the dire state of the pig industry, which has seen producers lose £30/pig.

It has called on other potential exhibitors to withdraw from the exhibition and instead donate money to a fighting fund in support of farmers.

The Royal Agricultural Society of England, which organises the event, this year kept rents at 1998 levels and gave money to the British Pig Industry Support Group.

But Cotswold felt that more could have been done by the society given the large amount of cash that the fair generates for the pig industry.

The two-day event, held at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, attracts large numbers of exhibitors and visitors, and will become a biennial event after next year.

Reg Joseph, director of Great Britain and German operations for Cotswold, said the pulling out of the fair would make a lot a sense.

Money saved would be better used to differentiate British pork, bacon and pigmeat products from imports produced standards illegal in the UK, he said.