Farming: Pig farmers to stage Downing Street protest

Scottish pig farmers are to join a national rally at Downing Street this week to highlight to politicians, retailers and the public that rocketing costs and poor prices are putting the nation's pig farmers out of business.

The crisis has already claimed one of Scotland's oldest pig farms, with pig production on the 600-sow unit at Dourie, Port William in south-west Scotland being wound down after more than 50 years in the business.

In line with a survey carried out by the National Pig Association, which showed that four out of five pig producers were currently losing money, the owners of the Dourie unit, the Christie family, estimate that they are expected to lose 250,000 on their pig enterprise.

A partner in the business, Gregor Christie, who is also a member of NFU Scotland's pigs committee, yesterday confirmed the closure of the unit would result in six redundancies.

The NPA survey also showed that two thirds of all UK pig producers will give up their businesses in the next 24 months as a result of rocketing feed costs in tandem with lower prices paid by supermarkets.

NFU Scotland, who have asked major UK retailers to show greater commitment to home-produced products, will be represented at the rally by vice-president John Picken and pigs committee chairman Phil Sleigh and a dozen producers

The rally, which will see a number of celebrities show their support for the industry, will highlight the fact that the UK is a world leaders in terms of welfare-friendly production. Picken pointed out that if more farmers were forced to quit the industry, then consumers in this country would be stuck with lower-welfare imported pork, sausages, bacon and ham.

"Recent examinations of supermarket shelves have shown that too many of our major retailers are too quick to stock shelves with cheap, imported pork and bacon," he said.