Farming Minister Sir Mark Spencer defended the Government’s position on border controls when he opened the two-day British Pig & Poultry Fair on Wednesday at the venue of the NEC, in Birmingham.
Asked by Pig World why the Government was cutting funding for the Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) for illegal meat seizures at the port, given the vast volumes of product being seized there, much of it pork from regions with African swine fever (ASF), Sir Mark claimed there were ‘a few myths’ around the situation.
“It is important to recognise that for the last 50 years, we have had products coming across the Dover straits that never been inspected. Since Brexit, we now have the opportunity to actually look at what is coming into the country and inspect what is happening.
“We are going to do that by splitting those two channels of goods into two lots. If you are Tesco and you are importing goods into the UK from a reliable clean source to a reliable market place, you can go down one lane and go Sevington (under the new Border Target Operating Model) to make sure that lorry load is safe for the UK. That is a very low-risk route.
‘If you are Mr Smith or Mr Jones coming on a day trip to London and bringing a pork sandwich, you are a small risk, but you may well get picked up at the Port of Dover.
“So, we have split the cash, so there is more cash going to the big channel, Sevington, but that does not mean we are reducing the amount of cash that is available to the Port of Dover to inspect those daily trips. We are still in conversation with the Port of Dover to make sure they have enough resource.
“What has also happened is we are now inspecting those transit vans that are coming in and we are finding stuff. The difficulty is, when you start to look for stuff, you find it. We are picking stuff up and we can take action, so I think that is a positive step forward, but I do acknowledge that we do need to make sure we get that right and I think that now we are more informed and we have the intelligence-led inspections, we will be in a stronger place.”
DPHA says Defra has cut its funding for this work by 70% this year and then to zero next year, and the situation at Dover was identified as a huge concern by NPA chairman Rob Mutimer and Karro-Sofina head of pig procurement, Mark Haighton, during the Pig Outlook session. “We’re one ham sandwich away from total lockdown,” said Mr Haighton.
Mr Mutimer stressed that stringent biosecurity is therefore vital, alongside control of wild pigs and boar. A subsequent seminar took a detailed look at ASF-preparedness and the need for everyone connected to the industry to have full contingency plans in place in the event of an outbreak.
Sustainable soya
Mr Mutimer and Mr Haighton also stressed during the Pig Outlook that sourcing sustainable soya – which will be a legal requirement from January 2025 across the EU, alongside similar UK regulation and a voluntary UK initiative – is going to be a challenge for everyone in the pig and poultry sectors, with uncertainty over how the new system will work driving prices towards a £100/t premium for soya prices for early 2025.
Taken in the context of higher labour, machinery, building and finance costs, producers are going to have to be paid more to remain in business, said Mr Mutimer.
Speaking in the pig outlook forum, he said that the pig herd has stabilised after two years of sharp decline, and confidence in the sector is starting to recover. However, many buildings are in serious need of investment, and the likely move to adaptive farrowing – which needs 30-35% more space – will require more new sheds to be built. Given the cost and difficulty of obtaining planning and environmental permissions, that is likely to lead to further decline in sow numbers.
It’s a similar picture across the EU, explained Mark Haighton at Sofina Foods, with production likely to drop over the next six years. This flies in the face of the global trend, which will see production increase by 7.2% by 2030, with exports also rising, driven predominantly by demand in China and Asia.