New Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) that came into force this week should give producers extra protection and confidence in their dealings with buyers, according to NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson.
In an interview with BBC Farming Today (9 mins, 30 secs), Mr Wilson said the pig crisis of 2022 and 2023 highlighted the number of producers who either didn’t have a written contract or had contracts that were ‘not fit for purpose’.
“The regulations probably are not quite as prescriptive as some producers would have hoped, but that’s really because they’ve got to be enforceable, at the end of the day, and we needed to provide a framework for individuals to then be able to negotiate,” she said.
“The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but the beauty of these regulations is that they are not now set in stone. They can be amended accordingly, if any continuing bad behaviour is highlighted or if certain parts aren’t working or are undeliverable, as we’ve seen with the dairy sector in their regulations.
The NPA played a major role in developing the new legislation, consulting widely with producers and marketing groups and working closely with Defra.
“I hope it will give producers a little more protection. It definitely gives them a legal route with regards to dispute resolution and complaining,” Mrs Wilson added.
“There are certain aspects that now have to be agreed in writing, like how the producer is paid, how that price is formulated, how long the contract is, how many pigs per week and what happens if one party doesn’t meet that – there can be no changes unless both parties agree in writing.
“So, I would hope that it does provide a little bit more confidence and we will start to see risk and reward more proportionately distributed throughout the supply chain.”