6 minute read
Pig farmers in call for support
NEWS PIGS NEED CASH INJECTION
With the Government itself pointing out that pig farmers’ incomes have fallen by 87% over the past year, an Essex breeder has joined calls for a Covid-19 support package to be provided.
The pig sector’s call for a £3.2 million cash injection to recognise the impact of overweight pigs on producers' businesses received a welcome boost when DEFRA’s own Farm Business Income figures estimated that average pig farm incomes had plummeted from £37,000 in 2019/20 to just £5,000 in 2020/21.
Those figures struck a chord with Jack Bosworth, who runs an arable and pig operation with his father Stuart at Spains Hall, Willingale and is an active member of the National Pig Association (NPA), which made the original request to government.
“Pork is 20p a kilo down on this time last year. We sell around 280 pigs a week at between 80 and 90 kilos, so that equates to a fall of £5,000 every week on last year’s income. Add in the fact that feed prices are currently high and you can see the problem.”
The industry has been facing a ‘perfect storm’ of issues, with falling prices, rising costs, the general disruption caused by Covid-19 and restricted access to the market in China all contributing to the crisis.
DEFRA highlighted a 5% rise in input costs, while the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s data on pig farms’ financial performance reveals that positive margins of £14/head, £10/head and £7/head in the first three quarters of 2020 slumped to a negative margin of -£6/head in the fourth quarter.
“The pig sector has never enjoyed the luxury of subsidies, but these are challenging times, and with so many different elements being thrown at us we need a little bit of help,” said Jack.
“Even DEFRA is now projecting incomes falling by an astonishing 87%, so they must surely accept that farmers need support. Everyone talks about the challenge facing pubs, and I have every sympathy with their plight, but I’m sure that even pubs haven’t seen their income fall by that level if they have taken steps to adapt to the pandemic, like offering takeaways.”
While support would clearly be welcome, Jack said that it was secondary to the fundamental issue of tackling the cause of the problems.
“No-one is going to turn down help, but it’s more important that we get things back up and running and sort out issues like access to China,” he said. “In the long term, ensuring these problems don’t happen again is more important to the industry.
“With our cost of production higher than the sale price, it has been extremely tight here. We are used to working within volatile markets, but the addition of Covid-19 and Brexit-related issues really did create a situation that we wouldn't want to encounter again, and more importantly couldn't encounter again, without significant support from above.
“Prices have picked up a little in recent weeks, but feed is still expensive. We are hoping for a better finish to the year and we want people to keep buying British pork, but it’s proving to be a painful and challenging time.”
The NPA’s request, supported by processors, follows similar schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland that reflect Covid-related losses suffered by producers.
Covid-19 outbreaks in pork plants have caused a backlog of pigs, which has in turn led to higher carcase weights and subsequent price deductions being imposed by processors. At the same time, exports to China from a number of key plants have been suspended.
The NPA’s March request to DEFRA was for a £3.2m compensation package to reflect deductions made for overweight pigs. Chief Executive Zoe Davies said the department had “taken a very keen interest” in the plight of the pig sector in recent months, and while she admitted this kind of support would be unprecedented, she said these were unprecedented times.
“The entire UK pig sector has been hit by this situation, and given that compensation has been paid to other sectors, such as dairy, we believe we have a very justifiable case," she commented.
EXIT SCHEME CONSULTATION DELAYED
The death of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh has had the unexpected effect of delaying the launch of the BPS lump sum exit scheme consultation that DEFRA had been expected to publish in midApril.
With all but essential Government communications postponed during the period of mourning following Prince Philip’s death, the situation has been further complicated by the start of the local election ‘purdah’ period, during which the Government is also prevented from making non-essential announcements. The consultation is now unlikely to see the light of day before early May.
A flagship countryside event has been moved back two weeks to take advantage of the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions across the country.
The LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) charity has decided to move its Open Farm Sunday (LOFS) event back to 27 June.
LOFS Manager Annabel Shackleton said that by that date, with restrictions eased, events would be able to go ahead “with minimal risk, giving our farmers and the public confidence to enjoy a safe, informative and fun day out on farm as they always have”.
The organisers believe the event will be more popular than ever this year after several months of restricted activity and with many country shows cancelled. With that in mind LEAF is encouraging as many farmers as possible to open their farm gates in June for socially distanced farm walks and talks.
Host farmers are also being asked to use a booking system this year to avoid overcrowding and keep staff and visitors Covid-safe.
“Big events may not be practical this year, but if the public is surging to the countryside, we’d love to see hundreds of smaller events taking place,” said Annabel. “This is an excellent opportunity to share the farming, sustainability and food production story, but also, crucially, how to respect the countryside as we head into the summer holidays.” Although the last weekend in June will be the ‘official’ 2021 date, farmers wishing to host visitors on the Sunday before or after will have access to the same LOFS support and resources.
For more information see www.farmsunday.org
LEAF OPEN FARM SUNDAY – NEW DATE
FREE ONLINE FORUMS CONTINUE
> Phil Jarvis
The first of a number of online discussions hosted by the South of England Agricultural Society saw Heather Wildwood talk to members about the vital need to get succession planning right.
The society is aiming to hold four online technical forums a year – even after the coronavirus lockdown ends – and there was an impressive turnout for the first one, entitled Taking charge of your destiny.
Heather, who runs Saviour Associates, a consultancy that offers leadership training across the industry, stressed the value of family meetings and the importance of making sure that both the older generation and the younger had a clear idea of what they wanted from the transfer of the business from one generation to the next.
The series of free forums, aimed at active farmers and growers across the region, will continue with The power of the environment to power the bottom line on Wednesday 12 May at 6pm.
Forum organiser Duncan Rawson explained: “Production methods are being challenged by new policies and by issues around chemical availability and its use. The way we have produced food over the last few decades needs to change. But this is not something to fear, this is something to embrace. We can feed the nation while doing right by the environment – in fact we can embrace the environment to help us farm more effectively, and dare we say it, more profitably.”
Phil Jarvis, Head of Farming, Training and Partnerships at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project, will lead the discussion.
