Pig farmers fear for future of industry as costs rise

A pig farmer who has been losing around £5,000 a week since Christmas has called for more government support for the industry.

Cameron Naughton said pig farmers were being put under pressure due to skilled labour shortages and rising costs.

"I fear for the welfare of the animals on the farm and I fear for the welfare of myself and my staff," he said.

The government said it is providing temporary work visas and incentives to reduce backlogs at abattoirs.

Mr Naughton, from Devizes, Wiltshire, said a shortage of skilled butchers arriving from Europe since Brexit, alongside large increases in the cost of fuel and wheat, had made the situation as bad as he had seen it in his 35 years in the industry.

"We want the government to stop sacrificing the British pig industry on their political points and accept that there is a need to allow skilled workers to come into this country.

"There is not the British workforce to do this job. Please let workers come from abroad," he said.

Mr Naughton said the cost of production has increased rapidly over the past year and he was now "losing a substantial amount of money" on every pig he sold.

"Wheat is a major part of a pigs diet and that's gone up from £150 a tonne to over £300 a tonne. We have been losing about £5,000 a week since Christmas.

"I've been carrying 500 extra pigs on the farm which would normally have been sold because there's been a huge issue with insufficient labour in pig processing plants," he said.

Mr Naughton said he was "fed up and struggling to cope" and that some pig farmers in worse positions than he is are in a "very difficult place mentally".

Dr Zoe Davies of the National Pig Association said the future of the UK pig industry was at risk unless the government steps-in to help.

"We've been asking the government for direct financial support for some time," she said.

"Other countries within the UK and Europe have been providing significant support packages for their producers and we would like our government to do the same.

"We are already relatively small-scale and if we don't support those farmers remaining we will lose critical mass in the industry and end up importing all of the pork that we require."

In a statement the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "We have provided a package of measures to support the pig industry which includes temporary work visas for pork butchers, private storage aid and slaughter incentive payment schemes to help increase the number of pigs going through abattoirs."

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