Mr Barker will be taking up the role of our new senior policy advisor on Monday (June 26), after a busy few weeks that have seen him get married and move house.

He arrives with a CV that has combined farming and politics to excellent effect over the past decade. Since 2015, Ed has worked as a farm management consultant for Cheffins, in Cambridge and Ely.

Prior to that, he was well-known as an agricultural advisor for the Country Land and Business Association, based in London, where he was the national lead on agricultural advice for the association’s 33,000 members. He represented the European Landowners Organisation at European Commission meetings in Brussels and was the lead within the organisation on the Basic Payment Scheme and CAP reform.

Brought up on a Suffolk farm, with a first class degree in European Politics and an MA in the same subject, he also has ‘hands on’ experience with a number of agricultural businesses, including the home farm, and has worked as a Parliamentary advisor for Suffolk MP Daniel Poulter.

Best deal

Mr Barker said: “There are massive challenges ahead for the industry and this organisation as we try to secure the best deal possible for the pig sector. I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and delighted to be joining an organisation with such a strong reputation for delivering on behalf of its members.”

NPA chief executive Zoe Davies added: “With Brexit and all the other issues facing this sector, we needed to add to our already excellent, but stretched, team and we are very, very happy to have secured Ed’s services. His CV speaks for itself and I’m sure he will quickly make his mark in the pig industry.”

Ed arrives as an additional member of the team, joining Zoe, policy services officer Lizzie Wilson (currently on maternity leave), senior policy advisor Georgina Crayford and office manager Andrea Vickers.

The full list of dates is:

North - March 28, Sandburn Hall, York
South Central – April 4, Newbury RFC
East - April 11, Diss RFC
South West – April 25, Gypsy Hill Hotel, Exeter

The four meetings will feature presentations from NPA staff on the big topics affecting business, including Brexit, the antibiotic challenge and the very latest on zinc oxide.

There will be market updates from AHDB Pork’s Mick Sloyan and guest speakers at each event, ensuring a lively and informative evening.

But the meetings are not just about hearing what is going on in the pig sector. They are also your chance to make your voice heard.

All meetings will begin with a hot buffet.

Members are urged to book their places now by emailing andrea.vickers@npanet.org.uk

For more information these and other NPA and industry events, see our events section.

The eMB-Pigs system is set up for data to be entered quarterly. By November 1, 2017, Red Tractor pork scheme producers must have uploaded total antibiotic usage onto it for the quarters ending June 30, 2017, and September 30, 2017.

Red Tractor is currently proposing that producers will need to enter their data within a month of the end of the previous quarter. This is due to be voted on at a Red Tractor pork meeting on Thursday.

Red Tractor pork chairman Mike Sheldon told the NPA producer group at its meeting in London on Tuesday: “We will expect every producer to have a minimum one-month turnaround from the end of each quarter.”

But he stressed that, in the vast majority of cases, producers will get longer than that. Over the four quarters, producers will have a turnaround of anything from four to 13 weeks, depending on where the assessment falls, with an average of around six to seven weeks, Mr Sheldon said.

He explained various scenarios. “For the January-March quarter, if you have a Red Tractor assessment during April, you will need data up to the end of December (as this is less than one month from the end of March).

“But, if you have an audit on the first of May, we would expect you to have data up to the end of March.”

AHDB Pork is currently working with vets and feed companies to find ways to present antibiotic data in a clear manner for producers.

But Mr Sheldon added: “It is the producers’ responsibility to make sure the data is entered and to get the data from their vet or feed company. If the producer says they haven’t got the data as the feed company hasn’t sent it, that is a non-conformance.”

Too tight

Producers responded by insisting a month was ‘too tight’. They said they wanted to make the requirement work but feared they would be unable to comply with the four-week window.

The producer group was unanimous in calling for a minimum six-week turnaround. NPA chairman Richard Lister said: “A lot of these systems are taking three to four weeks to generate the information.”

Vet Duncan Berkshire, junior vice president of the Pig Veterinary Society, said PVS had told Red Tractor ‘six weeks would be more appropriate’ because of the way the data systems work.

NPA producer group chairman Phil Stephenson asked Mr Sheldon to take the producers groups’ views to Thursday’s meeting.

He said: “We as a group feel that six weeks would be far more sensible. For the sake of two weeks, it seems nonsensical not to allow the extra time. Every producer here has asked for six weeks.”

Mr Sheldon said the four or six-week period had already been debated within the Red Tractor’s technical advisory committee and confirmed he would feed back the views of the producer group to the Red Tractor pigs board, which will ‘make the call on Thursday’.

He said: “The objective is to make the process timely and credible. It is a matter of trying to strike a balance between what is practical and having a credible message to persuade consumers, and also the Government, NGOs sand retailers, that we know what we are doing.”

Addressing the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, Dr Davies (pictured above) shared an hour-long evidence session with Chris Chinn, from horticulture business Cobrey Farms and David Brown, from the Horticultural Trades Association. While their focus was on seasonal labour issues, however, she made the point that the pig industry is facing a different post-Brexit situation.

“We require permanent, unskilled labour as opposed to seasonal,” she said, stressing that unskilled did not mean ‘without skill’ but rather not educated to degree level.

“That is an important distinction to make as we are completely reliant on that (form of labour).”

Asked by EFRA chair, Neil Parish, why such labour needs weren’t being met by workers originating from the UK, Dr Davies said: “The UK workforce finds it easier to find jobs elsewhere, rather than working in agriculture and, of course, the Eastern Europeans have filled that void for us.

“Eastern Europeans will live here and bring families here. The concern they have is that they don’t know whether they are going to be able to stay, in addition to the fact that a lot of them have lost 20-30% as a result of the currency issue. They want to know if they are still welcome.”

See full NPA report and link to evidence video

A video recording of the evidence session is currently available for viewing in the ‘recently archived’ section of parliament live TV. To access the recording, go to the link below, select Parliament TV and then go to the ‘recently archived’ section.

The session featuring Dr Davies (pictured above) is shown as having taken place on “Wednesday 8 February 2017 2.17pm” and relates to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee.

Video link

Dr Davies (pictured above) has been invited to appear before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, which is holding two evidence sessions on the topic on Wednesday, February 8.

She will be part of an evidence session which also features representatives from the British Meat Processors Association and the Horticultural Trades Association.

See full NPA report

The £3.7bn takeover, which has been described as creating the UK’s leading food business, has raised questions within NPA over the impact of such a “concentration of power”.

“We will seek assurance this does not create greater imbalance in the supply chain,” said NPA chief executive Zoe Davies.

NPA vice chairman, Richard Longthorp, pointed out that Budgens and Londis, which are both part of the new deal, had different approaches to the stocking of British pork.

Budgens, he said, were historically good supporters of British pork, while Londis was an ‘Aldi/Lidl type operation’ and more focused at the convenience store end of the range.

See full NPA report

“As ever, we thank those retailers that continue to back British pork and will promote the fact they are doing so,” said NPA chief executive, Dr Zoe Davies, commenting on the latest AHDB Porkwatch survey which showed overall British facings for pork, bacon, ham and sausage fell by 3% to 5% between September and November last year and by 2% to 4% on a year-on-year basis.

“We are disappointed with the overall results showing that retailers sourced less British pigmeat across the categories.”

While adding that Tesco could certainly do better, she said the performance of Asda, which was already in a league of its own when it comes to turning its back on British pork, was dreadful.

“We will be taking it up with them (Asda) at the earliest opportunity,” said Dr Davies.

She did add, however, that there are still some areas of encouragement for British producers, especially the appearance of new pork product developments on the shelves of a number of retailers, including Waitrose and Aldi.

“That is certainly something we are looking forward to seeing much more of this year,” she said.

See full NPA report

The story, with first appeared on the front page of the Mirror, relates to blood being extracted from horses in South America for use in meat production, with the claim that meat sold in Britain comes from animals that have been given the hormone, known as ­Pregnant Mare’s Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG).

In seeking to clarify what is actually happening on UK farms, NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said: “We are aware that a small number of products containing PMSG are authorised for use in pigs in the UK for the induction and synchronisation of oestrus.

“However, from extensive enquiries, our understanding is that these products are used very little, if at all, in UK pig production as good management such as boar presence, sow nutrition and proper lighting means that sows naturally return to oestrus after weaning which negates the need to use them.

“It is also important to stress that, as an oestrus synchronisation product for breeding pigs, it would never be used in pigs destined for meat.

“Despite suggestions in the media that this is a story about British pigmeat, we want to make it clear the use of the product is not by any means standard practice in the UK.

“The UK pig industry prides itself on the high standards that underpin our pig production.”

See full NPA report

Mr Lister, who farms in North Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, was introduced at the start of a five-minute feature as ‘one farmer who is leading the fight against superbugs’.

The slot focused on his efforts to address persistent disease problems in his pig herd, notably Glässers Disease, with autogenous vaccines, which are made from cultures isolated at the site of infection to target the specific problem.

You can view the feature here (approx 33 mins).

Mr Lister told presenter Andy Kershaw: “The particular problem on the farm was Glässers Disease, a bacterial infection that tends to give a respiratory problem.

“So what we looked to do was try and identify that strain and we developed a vaccine that was bespoke to this farm.”

He said the new approach was working economically and in terms of herd health, having seen a 30 per cent drop in mortality rate.

“It has been very successful for us. Overall, pigs are just far healthier with less treatments. It has been a win-win all round,” Mr Lister said.

Vet Duncan Berkshire was filmed administering the vaccine. He outlined how this sort of ‘bespoke and specific’ solution addresses the particular disease problem in a more targeted manner than antibiotics, including ‘leaving the friendly bacteria alone’.