Farming News - UK pig farmers campaign to secure fairer prices

UK pig farmers campaign to secure fairer prices

22/02/2011image expired

Mobilised by the National Pig Association (NPA), UK pig farmers are planning to rally in Westminster in a campaign to secure fairer prices for British pork producers.

Protesting farmers will also hand in a petition, launched by the Pigs Are STILL Worth It campaign, which currently has over 5,500 signatories. The campaign’s instigators say they are hoping to boost that number substantially by the time the rally takes place.

The NPA says its reason for organising the rally is that pig farmers are losing more than £21 on every pig they sell, which amounts to a weekly loss of £3.6m across the industry. The association is also running a banner campaign, whereby supporters can display free 15ft banners encouraging the public to buy British pork products, which it says has met with great success.

The Downing St rally will take place at 11.00am on Thursday 3rd March. Campaign organisers have stressed that they do not wish for consumers to pay more for British pork products, but instead are calling upon supermarkets to pass more of the margin they make on to farmers.