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May 20
As long as you don't need it...
It’s okay for the French government to pump over £12m into French pig farmers’ bank accounts — as long as they don’t need the money. According to agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, member countries may grant aid up to £5,900 to any undertaking over three fiscal years, as long the beneficiary is not in difficulty as defined by European state aid guidelines.
Pig welfare
The European Commission has dedicated a web page to pig welfare. You will find it here.
Vion reports good results
Dutch food producer Vion improved its performance last year, making £100m profit from a turnover of £5.6 billion — a 55pc increase in profit. This year Vion expects increased production costs which may not fully be covered by market prices. Vion is widely tipped to be the next owner of Grampian.
Danish production down nearly a third
Denmark is cutting its processing capacity by nearly a third as its supply of finished pigs dwindles.
Danish Crown is reported to have just reduced slaughterhouse capacity by 10pc and to be making a further 20pc cut in the next few days.
The company — always a skilled PR performer — says it expects supplies to grow again in the near future.
A Danish Meat Association spokesman has said the consequences of reduced supplies will be felt most strongly when the warm weather arrives, causing pigs to grow more slowly.
Tulip and Darwin
The story above reminds me that I haven't penned a Darwin Award citation for Tulip yet. The Pig Fair intervened. But I haven't forgotten. I'll do it soon, and post it here for everyone to comment.
Darwin Awards go to those who strengthen the human gene pool by acting in a way guaranteed to remove themselves from it. — Digby Scott.
Food prices will stabilise, claims Brussels
Global food prices are set to stabilise, claims director general of agriculture Jean-Luc Demarty in Brussels. He believes global food prices will level out in the future, and at much lower levels than their peaks.
Meanwhile members of the European Parliament's Socialist group have warned the right to food "cannot be at the mercy of international speculation”, amid claims that overall global food prices have increased 83pc and 5.6m children die each year as a result of malnutrition.
No permits refused over emissions
It could be several years before pig and poultry farmers near sensitive sites know if they have a secure future. But for now, their IPPC applications have been granted and they can continue in production.
Nine sites have had a question mark over them, including one pig unit and pig and poultry unit. But the Environment Agency has now confirmed that these sites have been visited, talks have taken place, and none has been refused an IPPC permit.
However ‘very stringent’ improvement conditions have been imposed and the permit holders concerned will now have to produce plans to reduce emissions. Their success, or otherwise, at reducing emissions to the required level, will be reviewed in four or five years.
A number of options are likely to be taken up - such as putting some pigs outdoors and introducing biogas plants. But perhaps the most important action the units can take is to commission their own ammonia emissions modelling.
This could show lower real-world emissions from a unit than the Environment Agency’s own results, which have been produced using a generic emissions model, according to Dr Selena Randall, agriculture technical manager at the Agency.
Workshops have been held for the 90 or so pig and poultry producers who the Agency says will have to reduce emissions from their IPPC units and many of these now plan to pay for their own modelling.
Dr Randall sees problems ahead for some units when the Agency has carried out its housing review because some producers will have difficulty finding the money to invest in improvements.
However, her prediction is that the Agency will want to look at drainage improvements before housing improvements, “because that is where the big wins are”.
Although making improvements to drainage may sound less expensive, there are headaches and heartaches on the way as producers start to grapple with their drainage plans.
“We know the drainage review is going to be a challenge,” said Dr Randall. “Some producers have told us they think their site is going to be a nightmare.
“Drainage is very complex on some sites. When we were preparing for this we pulled up some manhole covers at Stotfold and we found the drainage there was hugely complex. It will all depend on the site and what developments there have been on the site over the years.”
All IPPC units are required to meet Best Available Techniques (b-i-g file) by 2020.
Above: Complying with best Available Techniques.
Swill-feeding three fined
Three Australian farmers have been fined for swill feeding pigs. The pigs were being allowed to feed on sheep, pig and poultry carcases. Swill feeding - once common in Australia - is now banned.
Because they are worth it...
Both Geoffrey Williams and Teresa Jeacock have experience with pigs and would like to work with them when they leave Morton Morrell Centre at Warwickshire College.
But will there be a pig industry for them to work in? To do their bit to help producers survive the current high feed costs and supply chain dysfunction, they have been collecting signatures for the industry's Pigs Are Worth It petition.
Pigmeat ban could hit European price
Russia has banned pigmeat from Denmark, France, Belgium, Hungary, Germany and Spain on the grounds that it may contain drug residues. This means considerable quantities of displaced pigmeat will now be looking for new buyers, which could weaken the all-Europe pig price. It is thought the Russian ban is an excuse for curtailing imports.
'One of the best things that has happened in recent years'
A new and improved British Pig Health Scheme will be launched this summer. It will cost more but it will still be unbelievable value, said Andrew Knowles, of BPEX, today.
One leading producer who is relieved by the news is Martin Barker (pictured), of Midland Pig Producers Ltd. "I feared it was going to fold after its first three years," he said. "If anything wanted saving this scheme did. It is one of the best things that has happened in recent years, from a producer's point of view."
Membership will increase from £30 a year to £50 a year. "But it would cost you £130-£150 to have your vet go into an abattoir to look at a single batch of your pigs," said Andrew Knowles.
Improvements include free collection of samples for testing. "When members have a particular area of concern they can arrange to have samples collected, which are then forwarded, on their behalf, for testing.
"They will still pay for the testing but it will save them both money and hassle if the samples are collected at the same time their pigs are being scored by the scheme."
The scheme will also include a new bespoke service — a producer who has a particular health concern will be able to ask that the particular area of concern be looked at closely when his next batch of pigs is scored, so that he can be given an informed commentary on the matter.
Pig welfare
The European Commission has dedicated a web page to pig welfare. You will find it here.
Vion reports good results
Dutch food producer Vion improved its performance last year, making £100m profit from a turnover of £5.6 billion — a 55pc increase in profit. This year Vion expects increased production costs which may not fully be covered by market prices. Vion is widely tipped to be the next owner of Grampian.
Down nearly a third
Denmark is cutting its processing capacity by nearly a third as its supply of finished pigs dwindles. Danish Crown is reported to have just reduced slaughterhouse capacity by 10pc and to be making a further 20pc cut in the next few days.
The company — always a skilled PR performer — says it expects supplies to grow again in the near future.
A Danish Meat Association spokesman has said the consequences of reduced supplies will be felt most strongly when the warm weather arrives, causing pigs to grow more slowly.
Ideas for being better
The BPEX Annual Technical Report has just been published, reporting on BPEX's drive to improve meat eating quality, production efficiency and health and welfare, and to help pig producers' reduce their carbon and nitrogen footprint.
"There's no doubt the current problems are serious but by applying new ideas that are already available, solutions are being found. I believe there are ideas in the report, which will get businesses thinking, along with new projects that will make a real difference," said director of pig industry development Mark Wilson.
"Despite the effects of things largely outside producer control, the technical performance of the national herd is showing valuable improvements and this trend needs to continue and accelerate.
Despite the challenges of rocketing feed costs, producers have been looking at improving their competitive position, through attending workshops and exchanging ideas, he says.
For a copy call 01908 844734.
Uncastrated pigs taste best
"The price for this type of meat would, without a doubt, be higher than present prices, but we believe the product is so good that consumers will demand it once they have tasted it," says John Hermansen, of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
He is referring to free-range entire male pigs slaughtered at a maximum 45kg. The next step, he says, is to overcome logistical difficulties at slaughterhouses and to explore marketing possibilities.
A study at the university has looked at using chicory roots to reduce boar taint. The sugar inulin, which is found in chicory roots, inhibits the formation of skatole. Results show a week’s feeding with chicory roots immediately before slaughter reduces taint problems.
Danish government acted lawfully
Danish rules on space allowance for pigs during transport fall within the the government's "margin of discretion”, according to the European Court of Justice. Danish producers had taken their case to the court because they considered the rules went well beyond European law and were damaging. But the court has ruled that “in principle” Copenhagen acted in accordance with European Union law.
Stewart is short-listed
Stewart Houston has been short-listed for Meat Trade Journal's Personality of the Year competition. Details here if you want to vote.
Impact from pigmeat production
Source: Danish Crown
Randi Dalgaard from Danish Crown has been defending her PhD thesis at the University of Aalborg. The thesis concludes that the environmental impact from Danish pigmeat production is limited.
In her thesis Randi Dalgaard describes how the production of pigmeat affects the environment during the life cycle of the product — from feed production in Argentina through to the farmers in Denmark, the slaughterhouses and eventually to the delivery of pigmeat to the quay at Harwich in England.
Her conclusion is that for the production of one kilo of pigmeat, 3.6 kilos of greenhouse gasses will have been developed, which corresponds to driving six miles in a car.
According to Randi Dalgaard the research can give specific advice to pig producers on how to reduce environmental impact.
The theme for the thesis came about on the basis of a “Buy British” campaign, which called for British consumers to buy British pork since it had less environmental impact than any foreign meat.
The Danish scientist questioned this and research the issue. She found transport represents one percent of total environmental impact.
May 19
Over £500 to spread incinerator ash?
Pig producers could be charged over £500 to spread incinerator ash.
As signaled on this page some time ago, waste management licenses are being replaced by “environmental permits”. In future, exemptions will be exemptions from environmental permitting, rather than exemptions from waste management licensing.
Defra and the Environment Agency have taken the view that exemptions should cover only simple activities which are genuinely low-risk, involving small volumes, low thresholds etc.
Activities that cannot meet these criteria will need to be covered by an environmental permit.
Defra plans to consult on proposed changes later this summer and the new-look exemptions are expected to come into force in October 2009.
Currently, exemptions that involve agricultural waste only are free but in future there may be a charge. Charges are likely to be per site — in the range of £25-£50 — rather than per exemption.
Some activities that are currently covered by exemptions may be considered too high risk and will require an environmental permit, including land spreading of pig and poultry carcass ash.
The charge for this sort of exemption could be as much as £550.
• This news item represents the tip of an expensive, unpalatable and illogical iceberg for pig producers. I will be going into more detail in a few weeks, so that producers can muster their forces. — D.S.
Food chain information to be streamlined
Food chain information may be merged with AML2 movement forms, according to Andrew Knowles, of BPEX. This is something he has been pushing for since food chain information forms were introduced back in January.
Defra is to investigate bringing the two together, so that pig-keepers need only complete and submit one form. It is also possible Defra will introduce a way of submitting the new single form electronically.
Over half English herd now in voucher scheme
Over 55pc of the England pig herd is now taking part in BPEX's PCV2 voucher scheme, which is probably unique in the world, says BPEX chief executive Mick Sloyan. "We think the percentage will go even higher — we're hoping to about 75pc."
Supply chain dysfunction
If government intervened to correct the current dysfunction in the pigmeat supply chain it could be the first step towards a siege economy, said farming minister Lord Rooker.
"I'm saying that as a feather-bedded minister. I'm not out there taking the risk," he told a gathering of pig and poultry producers. "I haven't got the answer — but if you intervene for one sector, where do you draw the line?"
Some of Britain's European partners would be quite happy to wind the clock back and take more control of the market — but that would be damaging to Britain as a trading nation, he said. "We stand to gain a lot by freeing up markets as much as possible."
The minister was responding to an observation by pig producer Richard Longthorp that far from being sophisticated operators, faced with a poending shortage of pigmeat, the large retailers' only solution was to let the market run its course.
This meant producers were going to have to reduce production to below the level of demand in order to get a sustainable return, said Richard Longthorp.
He questioned whether the market could be trusted to resolve critical food supply issues when there were fewer and fewer, but more powerful, partners in the supply chain.
Defra is on the Brussels treadmill too, says Minister
It isn't only pig producers who are coming under increasing pressure from the Brussels law-making machine.
"Nobody believes us when we say it, but Defra's objective is to get rid of regulation," said farming minister Lord Rooker at a reception sponsored by Pig World.
"But we have to run faster to remain still because of more regulation coming down from Brussels."
The pig and poultry sectors were shining examples to the rest of the farming industry because they did not receive Common Market largesse, he said.
"You are closer to the market than the cattle and sheep sectors but I am aware there is an extra cost from regulation which hasn't always been reflected in the price you get."
Environment Agency 'out of control'
"The Environment Agency appears to me to be out of control," pig producer John Godfrey told farming minister Lord Rooker (pictured).
In his pig business the amount of form-filling generated by IPPC was now taking one person one or two days a week to complete, he said.
Lord Rooker said he wasn't going to criticise the Agency — "they already think I don't like them" — but he regretted that his eye had not been on the ball when IPPC was being introduced, because he was helping sort out problems with the Single Payment Scheme at the time.
"As a result I didn't spend any time delving into IPPC for pigs and poultry until the day when there was the lobby of Parliament and we asked the NFU to work with the Agency to find some way of embedding it into farm assurance, and initially this was not well received by the Agency."
He hadn't received details of the final outcome of the farm assurance initiative "but it hasn't been a rip roaring success in reducing costs".
He said of the Environment Agency's approach to IPPC, "They have got a job to do and no one has taken them to court about it. Officials tell me I cannot micro-manage them. Defra funds the Agency but we are not allowed to say how the money is spent, regretfully."
Poultry leader Charles Bourns warned the minister, "We might lose some of our most efficient units because they are within two kilometers of a Site of Special Scientific Interest."
John Godfrey said (today) that he was hoping to introduce a system that would treat slurry from his pig units to the point where the liquid element was so clean it could be discharged into, for instance, a water course.
"I have asked the Agency to tell me what the quality of the liquid needs to be before it can be acceptably discharged in this way, but the Agency says it cannot give me an answer.
"It says I will have to apply for a discharge consent and only then will it give me an answer. This is not a very encouraging response to a business that is trying to go the extra mile to improve its environmental credentials."
Retailers could save pig industry by cutting their margins
Because the retail price of pigmeat has risen so much, supermarkets could reduce their 25-40pc margin without reducing profit.
“If they were prepared to take a little less margin we could easily get to the kind of figures that pig producers need to survive,” said BPEX chief executive Mick Sloyan.
Although supermarket pigmeat prices had increased by an average £1 a kilo since the start of the feed crisis, the price to producers had risen only 10p a kilo.
“One has to ask where the money has gone and that is the question the industry will be seeking an answer to over the next few months.”
He does not think retail prices need to go up much further, if retailers could be persuaded to take a smaller percentage.
Everyone would win, he said. Retailers would continue to have a supply of high-welfare, high-quality British pork; producers would get the prices they need to survive; and hard-pressed consumers would be able to continue buying the high-welfare, high-quality product they have shown they want, without having to pay escalating prices.
Why the interest?
Comment by Digby Scott
When BPEX chief executive Mick Sloyan held a press conference on day one of Pig Fair he was surprised by the number of foreign journalists who attended.
"If I had known there would be so many I would have arranged to have a microphone," he said, hoarsely.
Having followed the feed crisis locally and globally from day one, I think I know why there was so much interest, even though Britain is only a bit-player in European pig production these days.
Some pig industry representatives on the continent have felt it their duty to present the crisis as something that can be survived by producers. This was the line taken by Danish Crown took, for instance.
And at meetings attended by NPA general manager Barney Kay in Brussels, the information given by pig industry representatives from other countries has often been laughably at odds with the melt-down that's taking place in the European herd.
Whether these people misguidedly thought that applying a positive spin to the crisis was a useful thing to do, or whether they were just protecting their jobs by trying to persuade as many producers as possible to stay in production, I don't know.
But their cover has been rumbled by journalists. That's why they came to Pig Fair: to get the truth from the one organisation they knew would tell the truth — BPEX.
Producers need over 150p a kilo
Although the DAPP is rising, the challenge to the British pig industry is considerable, said BPEX chief executive Mick Sloyan. “Producers need in excess of 150p a kilo and there is a long way to go before we get there. That is the task before us.”
There would be a considerable decline in the European breeding herd, which would have an impact on prices, he said. There would also be a decline in the global pig herd, as all producers were affected by high feed costs. Global demand for pigmeat, which is still the world’s favourite meat, will continue to rise, said Mick Sloyan.
Meat and bonemeal is all about the science
The gathering momentum in Brussels to allow the non-cannibalistic feeding of meat and bonemeal to pigs and poultry has received the cautious support of farming minister Lord Rooker.
Asked if he agreed with the prospect of reintroducing meat and bonemeal in diets, he said: "I'm happy to go with the science. There is far more knowledge about the subject than there was ten years ago and if the science says, for instance, that meat and bonemeal from cattle can be fed to poultry, then I don't think we can go against that."
Lord Rooker said he had promoted the beef-on-the-bone ban ten years ago because the science had indicated that was the right thing to do then.
"We listen to the science when it stops us doing things, so we should also listen to the science when it says we can do things," he told a reception sponsored by Pig World.
NPA and BPEX chairman Stewart Houston said the industry would need to look at whether a reintroduction of meat and bonemeal would be acceptable to consumers. "I know retailers have expressed doubt about it."
l NPA Trade Directory l Mechanical data l National Pig Association l Defra l BBC weather l
l Environment Agency l Food Standards Agency l Quality Meat Scotland l Scottish Executive l
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