January 16 2010

Stricter environmental enrichment enforcement

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Low-fat assurance for smaller producers?

A number of small-scale pedigree pig owners would like to have closer links with the mainstream pig industry. This could be achieved by introducing "pig assurance lite", which would be more affordable than full-fat Red Tractor/Genesis assurance.

The idea was discussed at last week by NPA Producer Group. Members were keen to see the idea explored further because, apart from anything else, it could be a way of improving national herd biosecurity.

Explaining the idea, Assured British Pigs chairman Philip Richardson said, “These are people who would like to be recognised by the industry as doing the job properly, even though they may have only two pigs instead of 2,000. From our point of view it could be helpful because it would help us know where these pigs are.’

‘Pig assurance lite’ would not confer the benefits of the Quality Standard Mark and the Red Tractor but that would not be important to most potential members, because they sold their pigs through local butchers anyway, he said.

Assured Food Standards has indicated its support for the idea — although it is not sure it wants the new scheme to be called "assurance".

The next stage is for Philip Richardson to seek the views of the Assured British Pigs and Genesis technical advisory committee.

“This may be a way of encouraging quite a number of people to give information about where they are and what their veterinary status is, and it will also be an opportunity for us to bring them into the ‘family’ where they can be kept informed about things that are going on, changes in the law and so on, and all at low cost," said Philip Richardson.

“Now whether this can be achieved, I don’t know, but it is worth pursuing. I envisage a Leaf-style self-audit with the assurance technical advisory committee being involved in what the audit should involve.

“What we don’t know is how much it will cost and what cost would be acceptable to the producers we are targeting. In my mind a reasonable amount would be £10-£15 a year.”

He said independent inspections were the biggest cost in administering farm assurance, and if the cost of the “lite” scheme were to be kept low, it might be that spot inspections would have to be few and far between.

Dutch producers prefer Danish weaners — at a price

Last year Holland imported three times more weaners than is 2008 — but imports from
Denmark increased almost five-fold. Most weaners being sent to Holland now come from Denmark. During the first three quarters of last year imports of Danish weaners were almost six times as high as during the same period the preceding year.

In the fourth quarter imports were down around 50 percent as a result of higher prices being asked for Danish weaners. Currently the price difference between Danish and Dutch weaners is around £6 which is too much for most hard-pressed Dutch finishers. However, importers expect demand to pick up when Danish weaners become more competitive.

We won't 'diss' pork and lamb

Should English pig-keepers knock beef and lamb production? BPEX thinks not.

“We have been considering where we should stand on the current debate about the carbon footprint of meat,” Stewart Houston told last week’s meeting of NPA Producer Group.

“Chickens are better than pigs but pigs and chickens are far better than either beef or lamb in terms of carbon footprint. This raises the issue of whether we should be ‘dissing’ beef and lamb in order to promote pork.

“We decided what we will do is keep focusing on how good pork is, and let people draw their own conclusions about where the other meats are.”

BPEX will launch a "carbon road-map" at this year’s Pig Fair. “It will be part of our trying to demonstrate we are taking seriously the question of pork’s environmental footprint,” said Stewart Houston.

Helping or hindering animal welfare?

Referring to Compassion in World Farming, Digby Scott told NPA Producer Group, “They are making the pig industry’s ability to have a dialogue with itself more difficult by criticising conventional production and then, when we have someone who is trying to take welfare to a higher level, you watch them — they will quote it as proof that all other producers are dragging their feet.

“This industry needs to have the freedom to discuss openly with itself what its views are on welfare, where it wants to go, and what is achievable — and what Compassion in World Farming is doing with its relentless churning out of knocking-copy is hampering that dialogue and in turn hindering the genuine advancement of farm animal welfare.”

Quality Standard Mark gives way to Red Tractor in April

From April, when — in the pursuit of uniformity — the pig industry loses its Quality Standard Mark, all Assured Food Standards schemes will be rebranded Red Tractor Farm Assurance.

Assured Food Standards is aiming for more consistency in standards and use of logos across the Red Tractor ‘family’, which includes Assured British Pigs.

All farmers and growers in the scheme will receive new manuals.

“Promotion of assured food to consumers using the Red Tractor logo is getting an ever-increasing profile and it is essential that all sector standards include the same core values,” said Assured Food Standards chief executive David Clarke.

“It is important for the future of the Red Tractor that we continue to evolve our farm standards and share our values right across the food chain.

“Re-branding the schemes will link the farm logo with the consumer Red Tractor logo and help shoppers identify that the products they are buying are from a Red Tractor farm.”

NFU president Peter Kendall says the alignment of farm standards, along with the new producer funding via Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, will help achieve clearer messages about the quality and standards of production by farmers and growers.

All assured farmers will receive new manuals together with newsletters by February 2010. The new standards will be effective for farm inspections from April 1.

The harmonisation will affect all the core Red Tractor schemes — beef and lamb, dairy, fresh produce, combinable crops and sugar beet, pigs and poultry.

Products from farms assured under a number of other schemes may also carry the Red Tractor logo. 

These include Genesis Quality Assurance, and the red meat schemes in the devolved regions of the United Kingdom — Quality Meat Scotland, Farm Assured Welsh Livestock and Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assurance Scheme.

A tale of two trades...

It doesn’t really feel like January (apart from the weather), with pigs, particularly bacon pigs, in short supply and good demand coming through from the retail sector, in particular. Consequently, we nearly have a two-tier market with larger processors very keen to secure pigs, whilst smaller processors supplying the fresh meat market are slightly more cautious and happy in places to let pigs go.

With many prices for bacon pigs well past the 140p/kg mark there was a distinctly bullish feel to the market place on Friday. By late afternoon, whilst there were still a few spaces to fill, there was a feeling in the trade that most pigs that needed a home were placed and most processors had covered their base requirements.

Many smaller processors commented on the fact that the weather in the past ten days had now affected their trade, with many consumers heading to the supermarket rather than the high street. However, prices still remained firm with the best pork and cutter prices above 150p/kg.

Again we had hoped to see forward movement in the cull sow market, but a firm stand-on was secured in the end. Currency is clearly helping the export market. However, this is being balanced by the poor trading conditions for pigmeat throughout the European Union.

There is a good feeling about the trade for sellers, and this can be seen in the way weaners are in good demand with prices moving up steadily. Confidence is returning to the industry after the steady trade we experienced at the back of 2009.

And finally (because we haven’t done one of these recently) we have just been given some invaluable advice for life... “A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good”. — Dan Day, Meadow Quality.

Czech weaners fly

Weaner prices in the Czech Republic are sky-high currently, with a 25kg pig worth £55 or more. Why should this be? It's because the Czech breeding herd has plummeted nearly 40 percent over the past two years, and weaner suppliers are now unable to meet demand from finishers.

Who is profiteering?

Hard-discounters can be very hard indeed on their suppliers. After reducing prices in October for various parts of the pig carcase, Aldi in Germany followed up with further cuts in December, and other grocery chains followed suit.

This was bad enough for pig producers, but what has really upset them is that whilst sausages went down around 5 percent at retail, the price paid to producers fell 17 percent.

So who has been pocketing the difference? Producers don’t know whether they should be pointing the finger at retailers or processors — a problem British producers will have some sympathy with.

Still falling

French pig production, which fell circa 1 percent last year, is expected to fall a further 1-2 percent this year.

Sinking under interest payments

By Digby Scott

Denmark’s biggest pig-recording scheme has reported that in the year October 2008 to September 2009 average productivity increased to 27.7 weaned pigs per sow per year, with 14.1 live pigs per litter.

These figures are robust, being based on a sample of 850,000 sows.

But good productivity is not a foolproof route to profitability, as Danish pig-keeperes are discovering to their cost.

Despite their world-beating husbandry skills, Danish producers experienced a disastrous year in 2008, ending up with a deficit of £millions. And last year was only slightly better, with many producers ending up with huge deficits.

The combination of high levels of investment in modern production systems, coupled with dismal returns from Danish Crown, has means many Danish producers are heavily in debt, with little prospect of help from the banks or a hostile government.

Danish agriculture’s total indebtedness now stands at £35bn and repaying interest on this debt is proving a heavy burden.

The route to survival for an increasing number of pig producers is to export their weaners to Germany where they make at least £3 more than they would fetch in Denmark.

Despite the gloom, Danish producers are being told 2010 will be better and 2011 will be better still. But they have heard it all before.

European market firmish

Danish Crown expects the European pigmeat markets to be firmish in the first part of the year as retailers replenish their stocks after Christmas, and consumers stoke up on hot food during the cold winter weather. So whilst this time of year is normally difficult for producers, with sluggish demand, the immediate prospect is for prices to hold up, just as they are doing in Britain.

Biosecurity is not what it should be

(Report of the board meeting of the National Fallen Stock Company, at Edinburgh, Thursday 15 January)
 
By Ian Campbell

Judging by the number of phone calls I receive from pig producers regarding fallen stock, I attend these meetings with little to say on behalf of the pig industry but generally come away with a better knowledge of what is happening in other sectors and the devolved areas of the United Kingdom.

Thursday’s meeting was no different but was given added interest by a follow up meeting organised with a group of collectors from Scotland. Some of the points that came from that, and also from the board meeting, are worth bringing to your attention:
 
The National Fallen Stock Company has moved from being a government-owned body to being a ‘Community Interest Company’ otherwise known as a ‘CIC’. Defra retains a representative director which proves very valuable. This is a change that came about once that the government money allocated to support the ban on burial reached an end. The future of the community interest company is now determined by market forces so its function has to benefit the livestock industries or it will not retain its members.

The main income comes from a levy on collectors who generally are supportive of functioning through the company because of the security of payment, even though the competitive tendering system acts for the benefit of their farmer customers rather than themselves. It was interesting to hear in the board meeting of how that system had reduced rates for farmers in Northern Ireland and also talking, after the follow up meeting, with one of the collectors, that he expected to have to reduce his tender in the January price fixing window.

Listening to the collectors was an eye opener.
 
All are very concerned about the failure of enforcement agencies to ensure the burial ban is adhered to – hardly surprising. A forthcoming visit from the European Union has sharpened the attention of the Welsh Assembly on this issue, without any clear evidence of action on the ground. Not too surprising, given the stated lukewarm support for the burial ban by politicians in Wales, clearly somewhat sympathetic to the difficulties for hill farmers.

The whole issue of good biosecurity in the sheep and cattle sector appears to have gone on the back burner in Scotland since foot and mouth in 2001. Collector after collector confirmed they spent too much of their time foraging around farms for the dead animals they had been called out to collect rather than from the perimeter point agreed.

It was some relief, when asked, that they said this was not the case for their pig customers who did view biosecurity in the right fashion. This is clearly an issue that everyone connected with the livestock industries should take very seriously since the scope for controlling any future notifiable disease outbreak will be seriously impaired if it carries on.

I couldn’t help making the point that pig producers exercise biosecurity because they understand the danger of exposing their stock to the disease organisms that travel on boots, vehicles, etc. NOT because of anything to do with the law.
 
It is encouraging that all board members see their responsibilities as directors to deliver as cost-effective a solution to the disposal of fallen stock as they can as well as ensuring the financial affairs of the company are in order.

My own ambition is to eventually reach a point where on-farm disposal of pig carcass is scientifically and environmentally acceptable and if material has to be collected and disposed of centrally, that process is safe and efficient as well as yielding as much value as possible.
 
We still have parts of the country where little competition exists between collectors, and without rendering plants, greatly adding to the cost of disposal. It was encouraging to hear that ‘war’ had broken out in some parts between collectors to secure trade and when I sometimes hear that things are not quite so cosy within the rendering fraternity that also gives me hope that competition might exist there too.   

January 15 2010

Don't want them, don't need them

Sea Eagles last flew over the skies of Suffolk around 200 years ago, and production of food in the county has been transformed since then, said Jimmy Butler at this week’s meeting of NPA Producer Group.

“We’ve got free-range pigs and free-range chickens now and we just don’t need these large predators. In Scotland? Fantastic — they don’t have too many outdoor pigs and outdoor chickens there. In Suffolk? No — we don’t need them and we don’t want them.”

Updating Producer Group on a campaign by livestock farmers in the county to stop Natural England reintroducing the large birds of prey, he said the government agency had proposed introducing 15 birds a year to the Suffolk coastline, for the next five years, costing up to £1m of taxpayers' money.

“The background is that they were originally going to introduce the birds in Suffolk, but got stopped, then they went to Norfolk, and got properly stopped — and now they’ve come back to Suffolk,” he said.

Following campaigning by farmers, Natural England had said it would delay its plans until at least 2011. “We will continue our fight,” said Jimmy Butler. “We will try and get them onto free-range chicken farms and outdoor pig units, so that they can understand what the problems would be.”

Firm demand this spring

No fireworks, but a very satisfactory trading day at a time of year that sellers normally dread, reports Traffic Lights. And with the DAPP holding up well at 138.29p (compared with 130.5p a year ago) the stage is set for firm demand this spring. Traffic Lights commentary.

We've been checking up on him...

We did a quick check with producers and they agreed we should definitely ask Chris Fogden to join Pig World's team of producer-columnists. So we asked him, and he said, "Aw-shucks you guys, people have heard enough from me..." But after a bit of arm-twisting he agreed. His first column will be in February and, as you might expect, there will be a passing reference to the weather.

NPA to challenge retailers over porcine blood plasma in imported pigmeat

Blood plasma in pig diets will continue to be banned by British pig assurance schemes because of the risk of cannabilism, NPA Producer Group decided this week.

“We want to reiterate the importance of our high food safety and welfare standards,” said NPA chairman Stewart Houston, “and we will be challenging British supermarkets to demonstrate the pigmeat they import from the continent does not come from units where blood plasma is fed cannibalistically in pig diets.”

Most baby-pig diets manufactured on the continent, contain significant levels of blood plasma, which may include porcine blood plasma. This raises a question mark over how much pigmeat imported to Britain meets British standards.

More about this in the Members Area.

'Swine flu' ends with a whimper

From the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Hidden within the latest edition of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's FluView was this sentence: "The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza was below the epidemic threshold." That's right: The great American swine flu epidemic — which led to two proclaimed national emergencies and thousands of spooky news stories — has ended with a whimper.

BPEX supports Europe's "place of farming" plan

BPEX says it stands four-square behind Europe's plans for compulsory "place of farming" labelling.

Citing new Food Standards Authority research, it says consumers are confused over existing country-of-origin labelling, which can be misleading.

“English pig farmers have long fought for clearer labelling to provide unambiguous consumer choice and confidence," says BPEX director Mick Sloyan.

He says the new European rules, when introduced, together with a voluntary code currently being drawn up in England, will clearly differentiate Quality Standard Mark pork from imported pork.

When the England voluntary code is introduced, companies who have signed up to it will clearly display the origin of the pork on the front of the packet.

A declaration that the meat is, for example, "British", will mean the animal was born, reared, and slaughtered in Britain.

There will also be an end to ambiguous terms such as "Produced in the UK" as the origin of the meat will be declared.

The voluntary agreement was reached by members of the Defra Pig Meat Supply Chain Task Force.

January 14 2010

Swine dystentery disclosure: a battle for hearts and minds

Should pig-keepers be compelled to disclose whether they have swine dysentery in their pigs?

This difficult subject was discussed by NPA Producer Group yesterday after it emerged that around 20 Yorkshire units — possibly more — are showing clinical signs of swine dysentery, but only one of the units is signed up to Yorkshire and Humberside Health’s Swine Dysentery Charter.

Although some Producer Group members were in favour of compulsion, probably through farm assurance, the prevailing view was that a campaign for hearts and minds, with the help of abattoirs and feed companies, may initially be a better way to proceed than compulsion.

The debate was prompted by a paper by Dr Sam Hoste, one of the consultants running the successful Yorkshire and Humberside Health project, which is funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, and BPEX.

Around 40 pig units in the region are affected with swine dysentery, with pigs on around half of these showing clinical signs of the disease.

The aim of regional health programmes is to reduce costs and increase productivity in the national pig heard by targeting action against disease, says Sam Hoste in his paper.

But how can this be achieved if some pig-keepers refuse to share information about their disease status, he wonders.

“How can we increase transparency of infection status information and how do we communicate such information so as not to cause alarm and stigmatise some producers?”

He has invited NPA Producer Group to consider the merits of voluntary disclosure versus compulsory disclosure of health status.

The advantages of voluntary disclosure (which is how Yorkshire and Humberside Health and its east of England equivalent Eastern Pig Health work at present) are that it encourages producer and vet cooperation and leaves producers in charge of implementing their own disease control plans, he says.

But the disadvantages are that it demands a high level of commitment and cooperation between producers and vets, it doesn’t encompass other regions, and it relies on participation, honesty and cooperation.

Sam Hoste flags up a number of ways the producers could be compelled to reveal their disease status, including making disclosure a condition of farm assurance membership.

This could bring a quick win for the industry, he says, but on the other hand it wouldn’t cover non-assured units, nor would it encourage producer cooperation.

Commenting on the points raised in Sam Hoste’s paper, Yorkshire and Humberside Health chairman Richard Lister was inclined, yesterday, to take a hard-nosed view and favour compulsion.

“Yorkshire and Humberside Health is finding it very frustrating getting people to be open about disease,” he said. "When I look at the options, to me — being a dictator — compulsory disclosure would sort out a lot of problems, but you may alienate some producers and some vets.”

Phil Stephenson, also a member of the Yorkshire and Humberside Health steering group, was inclined to take a similarly hard line. “To make real progress I think you will have to compel people,” he said.

But Producer Group chairman Howard Revell favoured a hearts-and-minds approach, with a bit of arm-twisting by feed companies and abattoirs.

“We need to use a carrot and stick. One of the reasons for not signing up to a swine dysentery charter is that people fear hauliers won’t want to come onto their farm or they will be pushed right down to the bottom of the queue.

“So you have to make that your stick. You have to let people know they cannot have a Monday delivery unless they disclose their health.”

“And the carrot,” he said, “should be explaining to people who have swine dysentery on their units that they won’t be stigmatised and the biosecurity measures they will be asked to put in place will not be onerous — but to have the disease and just keep your head down is unacceptable.”

The meeting heard that if a majority of people could be persuaded to sign up to the swine dysentery charters, people would be able to draw their own conclusions about the health status of those who had not signed up.

Digby Scott said the industry might consider publishing in Pig World the names of those who had signed the charters.

Being identified in this way would not signify a unit was free of swine dysentery, or that it had swine dysentery — but it would show the unit concerned took an active interest in disease prevention and that its status could be checked by other members of the charter if they had good reason, he said.

Philip Richardson, chairman of Assured British Pigs, was doubtful about the wisdom of using farm assurance as a mechanism for forcing pig-keepers to disclose their health status.

At the very least, he said, before that could happen there should be clear protocols in place covering testing methods for swine dysentery and actions to be taken in the presence of the disease.

He supported the proposition that abattoirs ask pig-keepers to disclose their health status, because this was information they had a reasonable right to know.

“Assurance often gets caned by producers and the only way to get doubters to sign up to it, is for the abattoirs to accept pigs only from assured units. I think the same applies with disclosure of health status.

“Also,” he said, “if you pursue this through the abattoirs instead of through assurance, it will take some of the flak off me!”

NPA chairman Stewart Houston — who is the architect behind the two regional health schemes — said swine dysentery had the highest profile in the two regional health initiatives because it was the disease with the greatest stigma attached to it.

“I always felt that at some stage we might have to make disclosure of health status part of farm assurance, but it is a big step.

“If the overall health initiative goes the way I originally envisaged it, we ought to know the health status of all the pigs, so that if Unit A wants to move pigs to Unit B, and Unit B is in a clean area and Unit A is in a dirty area, we ideally want a system that says ‘Whoaaa... you mustn’t really do that’.

“That is the situation we need to get to long-term, but whether there is the appetite to make disclosure part of farm assurance at this stage, I don’t know.”

In the meantime, the problem would be mainly with pig-keepers who weren’t assured, who didn’t read Pig World and who weren’t members of NPA, he said.

On a more positive note, stage two of the two regional health initiatives could make money available to individual pig-keepers to help them with their health programmes, he explained. And that might be an incentive for more pig-keepers to disclose their health status.

NPA Producer Group agreed that Howard Revell and Richard Lister, together with Charlotte Evans, of BPEX, should attend the next British Meat Processors Association pigmeat meeting, to seek the help of abattoirs.

Members area

The NPA Members Area has been updated this morning, and will be updated again later in the day.

Manipulable Materials Working Group

NPA is to set up a Manipulable Materials Working Group to give producers practical advice on what materials are likely to prove both effective, and acceptable to assurance assessors (who will be adopting a tougher line in future). More on this tomorrow.

Defra must take a lead on IPPC

Unless Defra steps in and helps resolve difficulties over the way the Environment Agency is regulating IPPC, Hilary Benn’s words at the Oxford Farming Conference will look increasingly hollow, NPA Producer Group heard at its meeting yesterday.

Benn has pledged to help farmers produce as much as they can, whilst using fewer resources.

But his strategy for the future of farming will be compromised unless some of the more extreme activities of regulators are reined in, said Producer Group invitee Digby Scott.

The meeting discussed a recent promise by farms minister Jim Fitzpatrick to chair a meeting between NPA and the Environment Agency over the way the Agency is preventing pig-keepers from putting up new, more environmentally-effective housing.

NPA general manager Barney Kay said he appreciated the minister’s offer and had been in touch with his office for a meeting to be called as soon as possible.

“But we must have senior people there, from both Defra and the Agency,” he said, “or we won't get anywhere.” He said it was essential Defra be prepared to take a lead on IPPC policy matters.

What's the point?

Is there any point in NPA having dealings with Compassion in World Farming when it seems set on confrontation with the British pig industry, probably in a bid to increase its own membership?

This was the question raised by members at yesterday’s NPA Producer Group meeting - and it provoked passionate debate, with some members saying the association should keep communication channels open and others saying there was no point, because Compassion in World Farming would treat pig producers as its whipping boy, whatever they did.

The meeting agreed that unlike RSPCA, with which NPA and BPEX had a good working relationship, Compassion in World Farming presented an unbalanced picture of British pig production.

Members said that whether NPA sought to have a dialogue with Compassion in World Farming or not, the association should step up its work with MEPs, MPs and retailers, to explain the truth about welfare on British pig units, covering such issues as manipulable materials.

NPA chairman Stewart Houston stressed that high welfare on livestock farms was in the best interests of all producers, but it could only be driven by profit.

“By seeking to damage our ability to make an economic return, Compassion in World Farming is in danger of hampering the cause of improved welfare on pig units,” he said.

Outdoor pigs and whole-farm N

There has been no visible progress yet on NPA’s drive to clarify new NVZ rules on stocking rates for outdoor pigs. But general manager Barney Kay is confident the issue will be resolved in the near future.

Outdoor producers on rented land used to be able to account their sows’ nitrogen deposition across the whole farm. But the Defra guideline allowing this was withdrawn when the new NVZ rules were introduced last year.

Barney Kay has raised the issue with Defra, which has promised to work with NPA and the Environment Agency to resolve the issue.

“That meeting has not taken place yet,” he told yesterday’s NPA Producer Group meeting. “But I will keep pressing our case and I am confident of a satisfactory outcome, probably through Defra issuing a common letter on the subject.”

NPA at this year's Pig Fair

NPA will celebrate its tenth anniversary at this year’s Pig Fair with a display of some of the key moments during a turbulent decade for the pig industry, which saw two outbreaks of foot and mouth and one of classical swine fever.

It will be hoping to coax non-members onto its stand to discuss, an an informal atmosphere, the benefits of NPA membership.

To this end it will be displaying a series of cost:benefit examples of how NPA repays members’ subscriptions many times over, every year.

The series will include examples published in this month’s Pig World - the “Morrison’s penny”, manipulable materials, ear-tagging and IPPC.

It will also cover NPA successes - in partnership with BPEX - on outdoor stocking rates, imported weaners and public perception of new variant flu.

Although NPA is seen as one of farming’s most effective bodies, it needs to represent at least two-thirds of English pig production if it is to have maximum clout with government departments, regulators and farming’s lead representative organisation, the NFU.

In another strand to its membership drive, NPA is compiling a list of pig keepers who are not yet members.

At yesterday's NPA Producer Group meeting, general manager Barney Kay asked members to help him set up meetings with some of the people on the list, to give him the opportunity to explain the benefits of membership.

Pig Fair is May 11-12.

NPA challenges Environment Agency emissions modelling

NPA may commission environment specialists to assess whether the Environment Agency is playing fair over the way it measures ammonia emissions.

The way the Agency assesses the amounts of ammonia put into the air from IPPC pig units is probably seriously flawed, says NPA Producer Group.

Professional consultants share the group’s view. One consulting company is reported to have said it will only model emissions in the way the Agency requires if it can add a disclaimer to its work.

NPA is to look at commissioning an independent report on the Agency’s ammonia modelling methods.

“I think the Agency may be indulging in pseudo-science,” said Philip Richardson at yesterday’s NPA Producer Group meeting. “I strongly suggest we get an alternative scientific view to show Defra.”

Producer Group members exchanged information about the way the Environment Agency is regulating IPPC, and concluded its new way of modelling ammonia emissions is probably designed to show worst-case results.

Producers wanted to invest in new more environmentally housing but the Agency’s long-winded permitting process - which was taking up to 18 months - was in danger of bringing industry investment to a halt, the meeting heard.

Green light for supermarket ombudsman

Consumer minister Kevin Brennan has accepted the Competition Commission’s recommendation for a body to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice.

The government agrees with the Competition Commission’s recommendation that the new Groceries Supply Code of Practice needs to be enforced independently to prevent retailers being able to pass excessive risks and unexpected costs on to their suppliers, and that any enforcement body should have the important power of hearing anonymous complaints.

The Code of Practice comes into force on 4 February and this will be quickly followed by a consultation, beginning in February, on how best to enforce it.

The new, tougher code and proper enforcement will mean the grocery supply market works in the long term best interest of consumers.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said yesterday, “The new ombudsman will help strike the right balance between farmers and food producers getting a fair deal, and supermarkets enabling consumers to get the high quality British food that they want, at an affordable price.”

“Helping our farmers produce as much as they can, while using fewer resources is at the heart of the government’s food strategy, which was published last week.”

“The agri-food sector is Britain’s biggest manufacturing sector, worth £80.5bn to the economy and employing 3.6m people, so it is vital that the market operates fairly. The new code and ombudsman, the result of two intensive investigations by the Competition Commission since 2000, will ensure the market works effectively and in consumers best interest.”