No future in pigs under UK policies
No future in pigs under UK policies
DEVON pig farmer and south-west producer group representative on the National Pig Association, Robert Persey, intends to close down his 15,000-pigs-a-year finishing unit, having decided there is no future under current UK policies.
And he has written an open letter to farm minister, Nick Brown, informing him of the impending closure and that three excellent stockmen have lost their jobs. He has also reminded Mr Brown that 15 months ago, at the Oxford Farming Conference, he warned him that government policies combined with excessive supermarket power would effectively export the British pig industry.
Mr Persey also notes that during Prime Minister, Tony Blairs, visit to the West Country a year ago he tackled him about the excessive costs on British pig producers, especially the £5.26p a pig "BSE tax". "Foolishly, I believed his parting words: Trust me, I am going to do something for you."
But since then UK pig production has continued to spiral downwards "And it will keep on doing so. Already the national overheads such as promotion levies and swine fever compensation levy are being born by fewer pigs and fewer producers. I believe the British pig industry has gone beyond the point of no return in terms of critical mass. Once our market is lost the Danes and Dutch will never let us have it back.
"The British pig industry has the highest welfare in the world, but also the highest cost of production, primarily due to government-imposed costs. The UK supermarkets have the UK pig industry in an arm lock and demand UK product at global prices or below. UK production will continue to fall and will be replaced by imports of unknown origin but carrying a suitable label."
Is the pig industrys decline part of a plan to rid the UK of smelly animals or is a result of a penny-pinching Treasury? he asks. "Look at swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease. Both appear to be the result of cheap infected imports. Perhaps we should say "Penny wise, millions of pounds foolish". *