Policies ‘could lead to shortage of pork’

Matthew Curtis, managing director of Yorkshire-based pig breeding company ACMC Ltd, said that British farmers and their high welfare systems are ideally placed to capitalise on an expected reduction in European herds in the future but that they are being hamstrung by poor supermarket prices.

The decline in European herds is expected to take place due to the ban on the use of inhumane sow stalls at the end of 2012. The high cost of removing these systems and reinvesting in new ones is widely expected to lead to many farmers deciding to exit production altogether.

A recent report by Dutch food company Rabobank estimated that this will cause the sow herd to reduce by seven per cent.

This would equate to 1.2 million sows which would be producing around 2.1 million tonnes of pigmeat per annum. Many European farmers will not be prepared to make the investment in new systems, leading to a production short-fall.

The situation should present UK pig farmers with a major opportunity for expansion as they have had welfare-friendly housing systems for more than 10 years.

However, Mr Curtis says that producers are currently losing 16p per kg – about £13 per pig – on every animal they produce, because most British supermarkets don’t pay a realistic rate for their pigmeat.

Many are continuing to rely on cheap imports produced under systems outlawed in the UK years ago.

However, demand remains strong for pork as shoppers increasingly turn to pork joints as a cheaper alternative to beef and lamb.

Recently, Bradford-based chain Morrisons reported a 39 per cent increase in pork sales in 12 months.

Mr Curtis said: “This is not surprising in a time of recession given that the average retail price of pork is 369.4p per kg compared with 592.5p per kg for beef and 768.9p per kg for lamb.”

He added that he did not support the view espoused by supermarkets that they are fighting food inflation, calling this short-sighted thinking.

“Pig farmers cannot sustain these losses. If they drive domestic pig producers out of business, then there will be huge inflation in the price of pigmeat.

“They will simply be killing the goose that laid the golden egg.”

British pig producers have faced well-documented battles over low prices of late, recently launching a campaign to ask consumers to buy British pork wherever possible in order to help boost returns and keep them in production.

As much as a quarter of England’s pork is produced in Yorkshire.

Elsewhere this week the Red Tractor organisation launched a new campaign to promote the traditional Sunday lunch as a vehicle to communicate quality food, assured standards, traceable sourcing and the values embodied in the Red Tractor logo. The campaign will run throughout November and encourage consumers to look out for the logo on a wide variety of products in the supermarket.

Sunday Lunch Heroes as it is known will involve searching for people who embody the values of the Red Tractor and who cook the best traditional Sunday lunch.

And while recent research shows a dip in Sunday lunches since 2008 the campaign aims to revive the tradition and to encourage shoppers to use Red Tractor ingredients, bringing families and friends together for a fun, quality meal occasion.