Pig sector attack on ‘welfare’ campaign

A LEADING animal welfare organisation and the main organic body in the UK were yesterday accused of threatening the welfare of pigs on British farms and also of helping to destroy the pig industry in this country.

According to the industry body, the National Pig Association, Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association have been running a campaign to prevent pig producers from replacing worn-out housing.

NPA chairman Stewart Houston warned that, if the campaign was successful, the British pig herd would shrink as older housing became uneconomic, leaving the gap in production to be taken up by lower-welfare imports.

Part of the campaign, he said, was that “quasi-official” letters were sent to pig farmers. These contained threats to oppose planning applications unless the applicants disclosed confidential management information.

Houston described the “peasant farming idyll” promoted by both CIWF and the Soil Association as having little relevance in a world with a fast-growing population that needed affordable food.

“If their continued attacks on our higher-welfare British pig industry are successful, they will succeed in shutting down pig production in Britain and supermarkets will import more lower-welfare pork from elsewhere in the world,” he said.

The NPA claimed that most of the objections raised by the two organisations did not relate to planning matters and should be ignored by planners.

“The return to peasant farming espoused by these two organisations will result in fewer pigs, lower welfare, and more imports. We expect this kind of behaviour from the extreme vegan organisations but Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association should know better.”