Leading Scottish pig farmer Jamie Wyllie welcomed Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Mairi Gougeon and local MSP Paul McLennan on farm today to address the Scottish pig sector’s deepening crisis.
Speaking on behalf of NFU Scotland, Mr Wyllie thanked the Cabinet Secretary for the pig hardship scheme in Scotland, established following the Covid-driven closure of Brechin abattoir, but called on her to consider further immediate, direct support for the sector to ensure a critical mass of production is preserved.
Mr Wyllie pointed out that estimates of losses of around £26 per pig in February 2021 have since deepened to more than £56 per pig, causing overdrafts to rise at an ‘alarming’ rate with several Scottish farmers having already sold off sows to cut losses.
Mr Wyllie said that, disappointingly, several major retailers have continued to stock significant volumes of imported pork, undermining home production whilst the dramatic spike in animal feed prices in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has significantly increased the scale of current losses on pig farms.
He said it was in the interests of Scottish consumers, processors, and retailers that farmgate prices for pigs rise immediately to stave off a rapid rate of herd liquidations.
NFU Scotland also called on Scottish Government to provide greater retailer support for Scottish pork, pointing out that a small percentage increase in the volume of home-produced pork on supermarket shelves would make a ‘considerable’ difference.
The Union also said that help in re-establishing the Chinese export licence at Brechin, lost because of the Covid outbreak at the plant, would also expand the market opportunities for Scottish pig producers.
Finally, at a UK level, NFU Scotland has called for the Scottish Government to push Westminster on the need for proper border controls to monitor pork imports and for the English language requirements for overseas butchers looking to come to the UK to work in our staff-strapped processing sector to be relaxed.
