The Prince of Wales has announced that members of the public should take more consideration over the food they consume; he said last week that Britons should be more conscious of the benefits of organic farming methods when choosing their food.

Prince Charles made the comments during a visit to the UK’s largest organic pig farm, Bunkers Hill in Norfolk. He urged more consumers to consider the benefits of organic farming, saying that organic consumption would increase if people better understood the environmental and health risks associated with conventional farming.

The prince has long championed natural food and livestock production; he has campaigned for organic food production for over 20 years through his Duchy Originals food line. He said the associated benefits of organic methods, such as taking pesticides and chemical fertilisers out of the water supply were simply not understood.

He said: "I hope it is increasingly possible to get through to consumers about what is involved in genuinely sustainable agriculture; because half the problems - the environmental problems - are never taken into account. I do not see why people cannot see organic really is better for us, not only for the environment but for human health."

The majority of the feed given to the pigs at Bunkers Hill Farm is sourced from crops grown within 50 miles. However, elsewhere in the industry pig farmers are battling against rising input costs and static farm-gate prices as imported feed prices rise.

NPA spokesperson, Zoe Davies, said these costs meant that many farmers were “on the verge of collapse.” She commented "If the consumers valued the product more and were willing to pay more for it that would make it easier."

The prince commended the farmers at Bunker Hill, saying he was impressed by the lengths they went to in order to secure locally grown feed for their animals. He said "All these things are so important bearing in mind the huge cost of pig feed and other difficulties facing pig farmers."