Pig producers vent anger at Tory conference as crisis deepens

Pig producers are demonstrating in Manchester on Monday morning (4 October) close to the Conservative Party conference, to raise awareness about the crisis affecting their sector.

Pig numbers have been building up on farms for weeks due to the shortage of slaughterhouse workers, and has got to the point where a welfare cull of about 150,000 animals is said to be imminent.

See also: Temporary visas ‘desperately needed’ to tackle pig backlogs

Last week, it was reported that one Yorkshire farmer had already been driven to cull healthy piglets for lack of room on his farm.

The Manchester demonstration is being attended by about 50 farmers, suppliers and vets. One placard read “Take a butchers Boris, you’re killing our industry”, while another declared “All we want for Christmas is our pigs in blankets”.

The demo was organised in just a few days by East Yorkshire producers Vicky and Kate Morgan.

They keep about 1,700 breeding sows on their farm and would normally supply 900 bacon weight pigs a week, though this has been reduced by 25% for the past 11 weeks due to the factory slow down.

Conference goers, including the prime minister’s father, were lobbied by pig producers in Manchester on Monday © Great British Bacon

More butchers needed

“We are here to tell Boris that, unless we get temporary visas and more butchers into factories immediately, we will have to start killing pigs on farm,” she told Farmers Weekly.

“The build-up of pig numbers is massive,” she said. “This is not being overstated. Some piglets have already been killed. In the next few weeks it will be happening on a huge scale, unless factory capacity is increased.

“If I have to kill healthy pigs on my farm, I’m not sure I could do it. I’d rather let them go free in the woods. I’d certainly never be a pig farmer again.”

Ms Morgan suggested that the meat processors should bear some of the responsibility.

“Brexit happened five years ago and, with 60% of the workforce EU nationals, they could see that worker numbers were going to dry up.

“They should have started adjusting contracts over time, instead of encouraging us farmers to keep on producing and then hit us with this.”

Boris fuels anger

The pig producers’ anger has been fuelled by comments made by prime minster Boris Johnson, who appeared on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday (3 October).

He appeared to have little knowledge of the crisis in the sector and played down the notion of a cull, suggesting that pigs have to be killed anyway.

When Andrew Marr explained that pigs killed on welfare grounds would not be eaten, Mr Johnson replied: “If I may say so, the great hecatomb of pigs you describe on farm has not taken place. Let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens.”

The comments prompted an outpouring of disbelief and anger on social media.

“Each time I watch it, I get angrier, sadder and more mystified as to how he can possibly have such a lack of understanding, lack of willingness to address the issue, or a lack of comprehension about how supply chains work,” said NFU deputy president Stuart Roberts.

This video has appeared on my timeline so many times today & each time I watch it I get angrier, sadder and more mystified as to how he can possible have such a lack of understanding, lack of willingness to address the issue or a lack of comprehension about how supply chains work https://t.co/w7El7c24Zh

— Stuart Roberts (@HertsFarmer) October 3, 2021

Ms Morgan was equally condemning. “His ignorance of the situation was appalling. I feel really upset. He has no understanding and no regard for the sector.

“That we are even talking about killing healthy pigs is a disgrace.”