The first ‘EU PiG Grand Prix’, a contest to identify best practice across the EU pig industry, has received an impressive 247 entries.
The entries from 13 member states are now being narrowed down, ahead of the announcement of the top examples of best practice at the Pigs 2022 conference, organised by Pig World and AHDB Pork, in June.
The EU PiG project’s first Grand Prix, led by AHDB Pork, aims to identify best practice in four thematic areas – health management, precision production, welfare and meat quality. Each year EU PiG will focus on two specific topics within each area identified as ‘priority challenges’ facing producers.
The project is run by a consortium of 19 organisations across 13 member states representing all aspects of the pig farming industry, including producers, researchers, rural development boards and innovation practitioners.
An expert group for each thematic area will review all of the nominations and select the top five best practices per challenge. All 13 participating EU PiG partners and Regional Pig Innovation Groups (RPIGs) members will review and vote for the winning best practice for each challenge. The participating countries can be viewed on this map.
The winning best practice producers will be appointed as EU PiG Ambassadors. Over the four-year project, up to 32 Ambassadors from across all participating regions will be established as a network of winners.
These Ambassadors and their best practice will be promoted through the EU PiG website, including where appropriate, a virtual farm tour to highlight the best practice.
You can also sign up for the EU PiG newsletter here.
The Pigs 2022 conference will take place over June 6 and 7 in Solihull. The first day will be dedicated to the International Outlook Conference, while day two will be the Innovation Conference, when the EU PiG award winners will be announced.
To find out more about the event, including the speakers and programme, and to register, click here