Supporting Our Campaign
Tom Aikens, Rosie Boycott, Sir Terence Conran, Jimmy Doherty, Fergus Henderson, Tom Parker Bowles, Gordon Ramsay, Michel Roux, Rick Stein, Iqbal Wahhab
Bangers and mash, crispy bacon butties and ham sandwiches. Hardly luxury foods, right? Well, they soon could be if you want the bacon in your butty or the pork in your sausage to be British. The great British banger is in danger and we want your help to save it.
Recent reports showed that British pig farmers now lose an average of £26 per pig sold. How is this possible? Feed prices are rocketing – and pork prices have fallen, after the loss of valuable export markets for British pig meat followed the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak. With these setbacks, it’s not surprising that 95 per cent of pig farmers are considering calling it quits.
But why should you care? Well, not only does British pork taste delicious, but our farms also have some of the highest welfare standards in the world. Cheap imports just can’t match up.
In March it’s Fairtrade Fortnight, a celebration of support for farmers in the developing world. But shouldn’t we also support farmers on our doorsteps? Waitrose has stood by its farmers at this difficult time, guaranteeing a fair price, but for many other supermarkets this isn’t the case. Shop prices have stayed the same, while the price many farmers receive has gone right down.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with top chefs and foodies to launch WFI’s Save Our Bacon campaign. If consumers pledged to buy pork at a fair price, we could make a difference to the future for British pig farmers, some of whom we speak to here. None of these four supplies Waitrose, but their views offer a chilling snapshot of the industry at large. See the box opposite for details of how you can show your support. Sign our pledge and help us Save Our Bacon!
Fred Henley, near York
"I’ve got enough feed to last another month or so. I’ve only got 300 pigs on the farm at the moment. Five years ago I had 2,000. When this lot have gone, I shall look at the feed prices and weigh up the cost against what I’m likely to get for the pigs. It’s a big risk. If the margins don’t work, I won’t farm pigs again until they do. I might rent my buildings to another farmer and make a small profit from the rent, but that’s not what I’ve spent 35 years in pig farming for. It’s very disheartening. I know plenty of farmers getting out of the business."
Basil Baird, Chichester
"Things have been very difficult. I still enjoy farming pigs, but if it doesn’t make money I’ll have to stop. We have a two-year deal on some pig feed, but when that runs out, as it will soon, the prices will rise substantially. Foot and mouth has also given us a lot of difficulties. It meant that we had to keep pigs on the farm longer than they should have been kept, and you suffer penalty prices at market if the pigs are too heavy. We’re still feeling the effects.
"I’ll have to make five workers redundant this spring. I’m selling a third of my sows and the jobs just won’t be there any more. I’m giving it until the end of the year to see if there’s any light at the end of the tunnel and then I’ll make a decision. I’ll retire soon and it’s 50:50 whether my son will carry on with pigs."
Vicky & Kate Morgan, Driffield
"We both love pig farming. It’s not something we’d give up willingly. But at the moment it’s soul destroying: we’re losing around £12 per pig, which amounts to £9,000 a week. In November 2007, we spent £55,000 more on feed than we did the year before, yet the pig price hasn’t changed. We’re reliant on powerful retailers.
"On our farm, the sows are reared in a straw yard and we have no intensive systems. There’s so much legislation regarding welfare and transport, pig farming has become quite expensive. It’s worth consumers paying a bit more if it means people like us can carry on farming responsibly."
Join Our Campaign
With your help, we can raise awareness of the plight of British pig farmers and encourage everyone to Save Our Bacon. For more information or to register your support, click to sign our pledge.