Fourth generation farmer Gregor Bruce has embarked on a global journey over the last year to investigate the implications of increased productivity in pig farming.
Farming in north-east Scotland with his parents, Gregor runs an integrated arable and pig business across 800 acres, producing cereals to feed their 320 sows.
One of this year’s presenting Nuffield Scholars, he has travelled the world in pursuit of his research topic titled: ‘The previous generation of pig farmers increased productivity 50%. Can we do the same?’ And should we?’
Describing the UK pig industry as ‘innovative and collaborative but suffering’, he said his research was born from a passion to build a more sustainable future.
“We need to look at the future if independent producers want to survive. How should pigs be farmed tomorrow? And how do we take the first step towards that today? Processor integration, anti-meat lobbying and market instability are all exerting considerable pressure,” he said.
Gregor, who will be presenting his findings at the Nuffield Farming Conference in Leeds from November 18-20, gained insight from pig producers in other countries who were facing similar problems.
His focuses included animal welfare, sustainability, public perception and workforce morale, whilst also looking at how the generation before him performed, especially given the increase in piglets per sow per year.
“Landing in Sao Paulo airport, a city with a population twice that of Scotland where my journey began, I felt quite small. But you have to go, see, meet, question and embrace,” he said.
“With only one commercial-scale processor in Scotland we find ourselves at the sharp end of every market fluctuation. It is imperative to the survival of the Scottish industry that producers here make the very most out of what we have.”
Having spent the last two years visiting some of the most productive pig farmers in the world, Gregor said there are some who he envies – and some he does not. But the even though the current market is undoubtedly tough, his scholarship has brought him hope.
“The overriding feeling I came home with is one of opportunity – it seems daft, given the current pig marketing climate in the UK but if we can survive this latest crisis I believe there really is opportunity. We just need some farmers around to seize it,” he said.
Nuffield Farming Conference
Having supported over 1,200 scholars since 1947, Nuffield Farming Scholarships have long given its selected participants from the UK the opportunity to travel the world to pursue their chosen research topics that impact farming, from encouraging diversity in rural industries and nut production, to agroforestry and mental health.
The current cohort will be reporting back at this year’s Nuffield Conference on November 18–20, at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, with a view to encouraging and inspiring change within the industry, while looking at how farming is perceived by the public.