The date of the Downing Street Rally has been confirmed by the Metropolitan Police, reports Hugh Crabtree of Farmex, who has been at Charing Cross police station on behalf of the 'Pigs Are Still Worth It' campaign.

Please put March 3 in your diary now and make every effort to attend, says BPEX.

It is impossible to gauge the effect of these industry outings but outcomes have sometimes been very positive.

For instance, the BPISG visit to the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London in 2007, to lobby supermarket chiefs, resulted in Morrisons promising to source only British fresh pork. Morrisons has stuck faithfully to its promise ever since, which is worth an extra penny on the DAPP.

The Downing Street Rally will be held in Westminster, opposite Downing Street.

If the necessary permission can be gained from Westminster Council, hog-roast buns will be handed out to the public, to thank them for their continued support for high welfare British pork, bacon and sausages.

MPs will be invited to attend to meet constituents and hear first hand about the feed cost crisis.

Rising feed prices mean that many British pig farmers are in danger of going out of business. But at the same time supermarkets are still reporting record profits.

• Pig farmers should not have to lose money to subsidise the profits of supermarkets
• Supermarkets should pay British pig farmers a fair price to support high standards of animal welfare.

Downing Street petition

The following petition will be handed in at Number Ten during the Downing Street Rally:

British pig farmers operate to high standards of welfare and production.

The pig industry needs fair prices to survive.

If we lose the British industry retailers will have to import more pork and pork products which do not comply with United Kingdom Red Tractor standards.