As we look forward to tomorrow’s agriculture show, did you know that 40% of all English pigs are raised on farms here in East Yorkshire and the Humber – bringing in £499 million in an industry ultimately worth £7 billion in retail sales to the UK economy?
Unfortunately, an oversupply of as many as 100,000 pigs relative to demand, rising costs from the conflict in the Middle East, and falling EU prices leading to a 15% drop in prices, has meant that some farmers are recently losing as much as £50 per pig.
Many supermarkets and processors have therefore been giving notice on their contracts with farms – including with farmers right here in East Yorkshire who have been in touch with me – putting jobs and livelihoods at serious risk.
So, having already written to the previous Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on this, I also raised it with her directly when she appeared before the EFRA Select Committee.
A free market rightly relies on supply and demand, but that makes it no less essential that fair dealing and contract law are followed, so I’ll keep getting local evidence on this to the new Minister and the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator.
