Bangers and mash, crispy bacon butties and ham sandwiches could soon become a luxury if you want to eat British pork. Today saw a contingency of British pig farmers descend on Whitehall to submit a 13,000-signature petition. The ‘Save Our Bacon’ campaign has been organised to call for help with the crisis threatening the pig farming industry.

Pig farmers are losing about £26 on every pig sold for slaughter in Britain because pig feed has gone up from around £130 to £225 a ton in the past year. Global wheat prices have doubled in a year, owing to soaring demand for grain in India and China. The decision by an increasing number of farmers to switch from wheat to maize to feed the biofuels revolution is also being blamed. As feed comprises 50 per cent of pig farmers’ costs, the rise in the price of wheat is proving disastrous for them.

Plunging profits and foot-and-mouth outbreaks have already forced many pig farmers out of business. A decade ago there were 850,000 breeding sows in Britain; today there are only 400,000. ‘The industry is close to meltdown; it has had its share of difficulties in the past but never anything on this scale and this suddenly,’ said Jon Bullock, spokesman for the British Pig Executive.

Stewart Houston, chairman of the British Pig Executive, said: ‘The first phase of our campaign succeeded in persuading supermarkets to begin to raise prices on a range of pork and pork products. But very little of that has found its way down the supply chain to the producer. The biggest challenge over the next three months will be to make sure those rises reach the producer.’

The campaign was launched in London’s Borough Market on 21st February and is backed by many, including leading chefs, foodies, the British Pig Executive, Farmer’s Weekly and Waitrose. I was lucky enough to meet two of the chefs backing the campaign at Market Kitchen last week - Simon King and David Myers - The Hairy Bikers. To highlight the issues and help raise awareness for the campaign, they made awesome bacon sandwiches with Peter Gott’s delectable bacon.

If consumers pledged to buy pork at a fair price, we could make a big difference to the future for British pig farmers. Sign up to the Pig Pledge and help to Save Our Bacon!

References

Save Our Bacon: Waitrose

Pig farmers protest as crisis grips industry: Telegraph

Farmers’ plea to save our bacon: Guardian

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