Pig farmer warns industry facing ‘soul-breaking’ crisis ‘far worse’ than foot and mouth disease
A pig farmer who fears he may have to destroy 80 animals a week due to a shortage of butchers says the army may need to be called in to help.
Stephen Thompson, who keeps 2,000 pigs at Povey Farm in Norton, Derbyshire, described the situation facing the industry as “the biggest waste and mess caused by a government ever in agriculture” – and said it was “far worse” than foot and mouth disease.
Mr Thompson, 60, is contracted to supply high welfare pork to a supermarket, but said due to a shortage of abattoir workers and butchers brought on by COVID-19 and Brexit, the animals may not be taken this week.
Stephen Thompson keeps 2,000 pigs at Povey Farm in Norton, Derbyshire
“We are getting within a week to 10 days of running out of space completely if the pigs don’t go this week”, he said.
“We can’t just keep pushing pigs in a pen, the welfare of a pig comes first, and they’ll start fighting… so they’ll have to be shot, disposed of and wasted.
“The only way I can see we can deal with this is to get the army involved with disposal, with killing, and army vets as well, because the army does have vets, and we’ll have to call them in to help”.
Mr Thompson said that farmers could only shoot animals for welfare reasons, and so they would need to bring in a slaughterer and vet to carry out a cull.
“I know slaughtermen have been booked to go into East Anglia next week for 4,000 pigs and that’s just the start of this, the mental anguish and toll on farming families is just going to be horrendous,” he said.
“It’s going to be soul-breaking, it’s not right, it’s not financial, we’ll weather that, as we have through the pandemic. It’s the emotion – it’s the thought of not being wanted by the government.”
Mr Thompson says if labour shortages are not addressed, every pig farmer in the UK would be facing a problem
Mr Thompson said that if labour shortages weren’t addressed, every pig farmer in the UK would be facing a problem, and 12,000 pigs a week could be destroyed.
He said that if pigs get too big, they are worth less, citing the example of a pork chop from an overweight pig being too large to fit into a supermarket tray.
“A farmer can lose £40 a pig when it goes overweight, a third of its value is written off,” he said.
The shortage of workers has been brought on by Brexit and the pandemic
Mr Thompson also warned that the crisis would have an impact at Christmas.
“There’ll be no pigs in blankets,” he said. “It’s such a waste: we’ve got food poverty, food banks, and to be burning pork… there’ll be hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel just to burn it.
“All we’re asking is just to get some licenses to get slaughterman here, so the pigs can be used.”
A government spokesperson said: “We understand the challenges that the pig industry has faced in recent months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages, accessing CO2 supplies, and reduction in exports to the Chinese market.
“We are keeping the market situation under close review and working closely with the sector during this time.”
Business
Donald Trump tells UK to ‘get rid of windmills’ and says raising windfall tax on North Sea oil is ‘big mistake’
Donald Trump has said the UK is making “a very big mistake” in its fossil fuel policy – and should “get rid of windmills”.
In a post on Friday on his social media platform, Truth Social, Mr Trump shared news from November of a US oil producer pulling out of the North Sea, a major oil-producing region off the Scottish coast.
“The UK is making a very big mistake. Open up the North Sea. Get rid of windmills!”, the US president-elect wrote.
The Texan oil producer Apache said at the time it was withdrawing from the North Sea by 2029 in part due to the increase in windfall tax on fossil fuel producers.
North Sea oil rig. Pic: Reuters
The head of Apache’s parent company APA Corporation said in early November it had concluded the investment required to comply with UK regulations, “coupled with the onerous financial impact of the energy profits levy [windfall tax] makes production of hydrocarbons beyond the year 2029 uneconomic”.
Chief executive John Christmann added that “substantial investment” will be necessary to comply with regulatory requirements.
Mr Trump used a three-word campaign pledge “drill, baby, drill” during his successful election campaign, claiming he will increase oil and gas production during his second administration.
In the October budget announcement, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised the windfall tax levied on profits of energy producers to 38%.
Called the energy price levy, it is a rise from the 25% introduced by Rishi Sunak in 2022 as energy prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Many oil and gas businesses reported record profits in the wake of the price hike.
The tax was intended to support households struggling with high gas and electricity bills amid a broader cost of living crisis.
Apache is just one of a glut of firms that made decisions to alter their North Sea extraction due to the Labour policy.
Read more
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