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Thursday January 28 2010

IPPC problems? Get in touch

Will all IPPC producers who are struggling to get new permits, or variations to existing permits, or who are locked in discussions on ammonia improvement conditions, please get in touch with NPA no later than the end of next week.

NPA, NFU and BPEX will be meeting with Environment Agency directors during the week beginning February 8 to review key policy areas and look at current producer cases that have run into serious barriers.

‘We want to take your problems to the meeting and see if we can get some of the barriers lifted," said NPA general manager Barney Kay today.

This morning he attended a meeting arranged by NPA and chaired by farms minister Jim Fitzpatrick to discuss problems with the way the Environment Agency is regulating IPPC on pig farms.

“We are grateful to the minister for offering to chair this meeting with senior Environment Agency and Defra staff, to try and resolve our key issues,” he said.

The problem areas for pig producers include the Agency’s inclusion of non-statutory local sites for ammonia modelling and a new Environment Agency ammonia model.

“The new ammonia model has greatly increased the area around a farm that is perceived to be impacting on sensitive habitats, and the length of time being taken to process permits,” said Barney Kay.

He said he was pleased with the serious, senior level engagement by both the Environment Agency and Defra at this morning’s meeting, “...but we have by no means resolved all the issues”.

Producers with IPPC problems are asked to send details to Barney Kay as soon as possible. Tel. 02476 858782 or 07814 448956.

Compassion in World Farming survey conducted in illegal manner — claim

Compassion in World Farming's report (see Most pigs raised illegally - claim, further down this page) is based on a small number of pig farms, is unrepresentative and was conducted in an illegal manner, according to a letter from European farmers' organisation Copa to the Brussels department for health and consumer affairs.

The Copa letter highlights the role of the European Food and Veterinary Office in carrying out inspections at farm-level. It says the inspection reports on the health and consumer affairs website do not show any serious failings in the way the pig welfare directive is being applied.

It requests that specific labelling be created to take account of measures relating to animal welfare, the environment, nutrition and the climate.

Wednesday January 27 2010

Completely and fundamentally opposed to animal health tax

The NFU says it remains completely and fundamentally opposed to any costs being transferred to livestock farmers for dealing with animal disease outbreaks.

It is "extremely concerned" about the government's draft Animal Health Bill, whichdoes not give any detail about potential cost-sharing.

“We have lobbied for some time on this issue and consulted our members; we remain completely opposed to any cost burden being passed on to livestock farmers, particularly as we believe there are genuine savings to be made within Defra’s current Animal Health budget," said NFU president Peter Kendall today.

“Livestock farmers are already paying their fair share; they contribute significantly to the overall cost of animal health and welfare and adhere to strict biosecurity on farm.

"Reducing or removing compensation for farms deemed to have failed relative requirements is another major area of concern for us. While this may sound reasonable to some, our fear is that it will be impossible to develop a fair and proportionate system which takes into account individual farming businesses and the variety of livestock kept and different types and strains for diseases.

"Government also needs to be clearer about how it will increase protection to the industry from exotic diseases entering the country.”

The NFU called for an independent body for animal health and believes the proposed body is a positive step forward.

"However, the devil is in the detail and we need to scrutinise the draft Bill very closely to ensure that the proposed body meets the needs of livestock farmers," says Peter Kendall.

"We will also be seeking clarification on why the government now feels that it needs to introduce cost sharing measures through a Finance Bill and will maintain our fundamental opposition to such a move."

Chinese pigs and the soya problem

By Andrew Freemantle

I was lucky enough to be selected for a Nuffield Scholarship. I have just visited the Banff Pork conference in Canada. A few pieces of information I thought were quite interesting...

• China used 48m tonnes of pork this year, expected to be 91m by 2015.

• China has 22 percent of the world's population but only 7 percent of its arable land.

• To achieve this increase in production it will import more feed in order to produce more pigs.

So as it is already the largest buyer of soya in the world, I think we might need some alternative protein supplies in Europe.

Also of interest from the conference...

The Canadian and North American pig herds are down 500,000 sows, but productivity is up. The Canadian pork industry is suffering because of the strength of the Canadian dollar (we know all about that!) also the Unioted States country of origin labelling law which has lead to a lot less pork going to the States, Canada's major market.

I'm trying not to sound too hopefull but when our labels show country of origin, we might - just might - get get a sales boost like the yanks have had.

Finally one of their marketing men said, "The only thing that flows through the Candian pork supply chain is pork!" That sounded familar I thought.

I am in Chicago now and about to visit a free-range pig and poultry farm American-style, then in March, thanks to help from BOCM Pauls, I am spending a week in Japan visting a pig farm that has its own restaurant.

(More from Andrew on this page soon.)

Theft of weaners

Last night 200 weaners were taken from Paul Furniss’s pig farm at Chetwynd near Newport. They were between 5-8 weeks of age ranging from 9-15kgs.

This incident follows the theft of 500 weaners from Rob Mercer’s farm in March last year, also in the Shropshire area.

These events aren’t necessarily linked, but unfortunately with the number of pigs involved it suggests a current pig producer somewhere could be involved.

If you are offered pigs (especially marketing groups and processors) from an unexpected source, please get in touch.

If anyone has any information that could lead to their recovery please contact Barney Kay on 02476 858782 or 07814 448956.

Most pigs raised illegally — claim

Compassion in World Farming has repeated its claim the vast majority of the 250m pigs raised in the European Union are being kept in inhumane and illegal conditions.

In a six-page report it has produced with an organisation called the European Coalition for Farm Animals, it outlines the results of an undercover investigation on 74 pig-farms in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Holland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

It claims it found inadequate husbandry standards and a high prevalence of routine tail-docking.

It found 100 percent routine tail docking in Denmark, Holland and Spain, with Spain also displaying 100 percent no environmental enrichment, or ineffective environment.

The report draws on a 2008 European Food Safety Authority opinion on tail-biting, which concluded the “absence of straw, the presence of slatted floors and a barren environment can lead to increased prevalence of tail-biting among intensively farmed pigs”.

Compassion in World Farming also calls for an outright European ban on stalls for breeding sows, instead of the partial ban due to take effect from January 2013.

It has lodged formal complaints on the six member countries cited in its report.

In response, the European department for health and consumer affairs agrees better enforcement of European legislation on pig welfare is needed.

It encourages a partnership between producers, retailers and society at large, “to provide awareness of the importance of animal welfare and therefore improved enforcement”.

Department officials have confirmed the Commission intends to organise a workshop on the welfare of pigs in July, as a follow-up to the one held in November (which was reported here and in Pig World).

The Commission says it is currently evaluating its policies on animal welfare, including an evaluation of the proper enforcement of European Union law.

This evaluation is expected to be completed at the end of this year. Brussels says the development of “animal-based welfare indicators" should contribute to a better assessment of animal welfare on farms.

A rotten year

2009 was a rotten year for Europe’s six biggest pig-producing countries, with prices down 4-11 percent on 2008.

Spain, Germany, Poland, Holland, France and Denmark keep nearly 70 percent of Europe’s pigs.

Although feed prices fell in these countries last year, they did not fall enough to compensate for lower pig prices.

Denmark comes bottom of a price list drawn up by a German pig association, with an average price of 112p, down 5 percent on the year before.

1. Spain 127p, down 4 percent on 2008.
2. Germany 119p, down 10 percent.
3. Poland 119p, down 11 percent.
4. Holland 117p, down 11 percent.
5. France 114p, down 8 percent.
6. Denmark 112p, down 5 percent.

Tuesday January 26 2010

Sack management team

The Association of Danish Pig Producers has called for the dismissal of the management team and the board of directors at Danish Crown.

Danish producers are fed up with the incompetence of Danish Crown and its management team, according to Danish Pig Producers' outgoing chairman Torben Poulsen.

He wants to see Danish Crown’s board of directors and management team replaced by experienced professionals. "The current board of directors has run the company for many years and has brought us to where we are now," he said.

He cites Danish Crown prices which have been lowest in Europe for years, with Danish pig-keepers losing around £7 a pig last year.

But the Danish pig industry is unabashed by criticisms of the way it sells Danish pigmeat at loss-making levels.

Bacon exports to the United Kingdom have remained unchanged despite the lower value of sterling, proclaimed the Danish Agriculture and Food Council recently.

Despite the losses made by Danish pig producers, the council cites - as a success story - the fact that Denmark has maintained its level of bacon exports to Britain whilst other exporting countries have seen a falling off of trade.

Monday January 25 2010

Bacon Connoisseurs' Week

Pig-keepers who sell their own bacon will want to enter their products for Bacon Connoisseurs' Week, which is run by BPEX, March 22-28.

It’s an excellent way to win publicity for your product.

• Explanatory leaflet
• Entry form

Closing date for entries February 3.

Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week raises awareness of the quality and variety of British bacon. A key element is the product competition which provides entrants with an opportunity to be awarded best-in-class.

The competition provides entrants with a platform to generate publicity and increase sales of British bacon.

Entering your product into the Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week competition is just one way of getting involved, says Tina Mulholland, of BPEX. See Making the most of Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week for more ideas.

Friday January 22 2010

Falling euro causes concern

Above: How the euro has fallen against sterling since October.

The fall of the euro against sterling threatens to take the shine off a promising year for British pig producers. It is making imported pigmeat more attractive to processors and retailers.

This highlights the importance of persuading retailers to commit to British Quality, as the Co-op has done this week by promising all its Somerfield stores will convert to 100 percent British fresh pork.

"This could be as important as the 'Morrison's Penny'," said NPA chairman Stewart Houston last night.

Yesterday evening's Traffic Lights text notes that a weaker euro makes cheaper imports more of a threat, but says British numbers are still tight so today's spot base price is a firm 142p, more in places.

Thursday January 21 2010

Stolen animal health products

Animal health products — largely pig-specific — were stolen from Jimmy Butler's farm in Suffolk on Tuesday.

If you are offered any antibiotics or other animal health products, please extract as much information as you can about the seller, and then contact Jimmy at 01986 875272. Let's see if we can get an arrest.

No started bottles were taken. So all product is unopened and with its correct label. Other items (tools etc) were taken during the raid.

Wednesday January 20 2010

Somerfield to go all-British pork

The Co-op, which sells only British bacon, sausages and fresh pork, has promised that from the end of this month its partner retailer Somerfield will do likewise. Tesco will be promoting British pork shoulder joints until February 7, dropping the price from £4.50 a kilo to £2.50.

Tuesday January 19 2010

Highly-pathogenic PRRS would
'virtually destroy' British pig industry

The British pig industry should draw up its own code of practice, with processors refusing to take pigs from producers who import animals or semen into their herds, says breeding company boss Stephen Curtis.

He says highly-pathogenic PRRS would have catastrophic results if introduced to Britain.

“I have seen the effects first-hand in Cambodia — 20-30 percent mortality in breeding sows, up to 100 percent stillbirths, 80 percent abortions and up to 100 percent deaths in piglets,” said Stephen Curtis, chairman of ACMC.

“Stock boars that don’t die become infertile and semen is unusable for an extended period. Six months’ production is lost. It could virtually destroy the British industry.”

Highly-pathogenic PRRS is a mutant strain of PRRS, which has made worryingly-large geographic jumps — likely to be associated with trade — and is highly transmissible. British pigs are unlikely to have immunity through cross-protection and current vaccines are not fully effective.

Stephen Curtis believes border controls are still very lax for imported meat, with only a few trained search dogs at major airports. “Live animal imports from Europe would become a greater risk if this disease moves closer to such countries as Denmark and Belgium,” he said.

Untreated food waste that goes into landfill sites could also pose a risk through birds such as seagulls transporting infected meat.

He believes swill-feeding should be reintroduced as a safer alternative. Food waste should be separated, properly treated at specially-controlled processing plants then safely fed as high-quality swill. In addition to reducing the disease risk, this would be a greener alternative, he said.

Monday January 18 2010

Country-of-origin research

The Food Standards Agency has commissioned research about how people understand and use food labels, including country-of-origin labels. The results will help inform Europe's proposals for "place of farming" food labelling.

Key findings include:

• There is awareness of origin labelling but it is not a main concern for consumers when shopping.
  
  
• When asked on which foods they would like to see origin labelling, people most frequently mentioned meat and meat products.
  
  
• Price and food safety information on labels were considered by consumers to be, on the whole, more important than country-of-origin labelling.
  
  
• Some consumers are willing to pay a small amount more if the origin of their food is important to them.
  
  
• Consumers are confused about whether country-of-origin refers to where animals are born, raised or slaughtered or whether this refers to where a food product has been produced.
  
  
• 78 percent of meat and meat products now carry a country-of-origin statement, compared with 69 percent in 2005.
  
  
• 44 percent of meat products now give the origin of meat ingredients – this has more than doubled since 2005 when only 19 percent of products gave this information.