The Pig Guide - Editorial Articles
Marketing push seeks to underpin drive to maintain premium price
by Mick Sloyan,
chief executive of the British Pig Executive
The British pig industry has had a couple of years with the price in positive territory, a well-deserved change after all the challenges it had faced.
Last year (2010) saw enough confidence for investment to take place, helping to make the industry more competitive but as we reached the end of that year all that was thrown into doubt by the hike in feed prices which has threatened to undermine that confidence.
To make matters worse the latest rise in feed costs coincided with a fall in the price paid for a finished pig, measured by the deadweight average pig price (DAPP).
The BPEX feed report highlighted what had happened and what the likely effects would be – including a 10% fall in the national herd as hard-pressed producers left the industry.
The solution, as laid out by BPEX
in its report, was for the pig meat supply chain to adopt a three-point action plan:
1. Increase the DAPP
2. Support English high welfare
pig meat production
3. Adopt total supply chain
co-operation.
The role of BPEX is to seek to maintain industry confidence and through that investment in the future of the industry.
The marketing team is very closely involved with the Pigs Are STILL Worth It campaign which has been revitalised in the light of the feed prices hike.
This is a core element of the marketing strategy to maintain the price premium the British industry has over its major competitors. That’s a well-justified premium based on our higher standards of production, including the stall ban and the effective prohibition, through the assurance schemes, of castration.
The team aims to maximise the value of these through a wide range
of activity covering consumers, the trade and foodservice which includes schools, hospitals and the armed forces. Good quality knowledge transfer (KT) backed up by solid research is behind the BPEX drive to help keep the cost of production down, particularly with regard to health.
The delivery of this – encapsulated in the Two-Tonne Sow Campaign – is in the hands of the KT team which is armed with the latest information and uses every means it can to make sure that information reaches the people who need it – the producers.
Training’s important role
Training too has an important role to play, not only developing those already in the industry but also making it a more attractive proposition for those looking at a career path.
We have now seen two extremes of price volatility in less than three years, the latter driven by the weather. While no-one can predict the impact of the weather, the industry can benefit from tried and tested risk management techniques. BPEX is continuing to hold producer workshops on this important tool.
Strong story to tell
On climate change, the industry has a strong story to tell in relation to
low environmental impact but there is much more than can be done and is being done.
The bonus here is that greater efficiency, which means lower cost of production, should also lead to a still lower environmental impact.
The industry has already make big strides in lowering its environmental impact and there is more in the pipeline, much of which is covered in the Roadmap, a follow-up document to the Life Cycle Assessment and Pigs and the Environment reports.
Two-tonne project looks set to make positive progress
by Dr Mike Varley, head of the BPEX KT Team and Research and Development
The Two Tonne Sow project, launched at Pig Fair 2010, continues to be the focus for both BPEX research and knowledge transfer.
The aim is to see an overall improvement in production efficiency which has meant using an index calculated for each farm and for the whole industry based on both sow productivity and carcass output.
In simple terms, the 2TS Campaign is the carcass weight produced per sow per year. High levels of reproductive performance are an obvious prerequisite for this but the volume of saleable meat per carcass is also an integral component of the calculation.
Currently, the UK industry is achieving around 1600 kg of carcass weight per sow whereas some of our European neighbours, such as the Dutch and the Danes, are already achieving more than 2 tonnes per sow.
The Knowledge Transfer team has embarked on a two-year programme to push the industry to the same high level. Initially it will be looking at breeding herd performance and running workshops and seminars related to this to stimulate producers to refresh their management policies for both gilts and sows.
Then the focus will move on to building management, health and hygiene and feeding practices to offer producers all the information to make the necessary on-farm improvements. To date this programme has generated good interest and feedback from producers and we have produced comprehensive resource packs for each subject area.
The Knowledge Transfer work is supported by a very broad research programme involving BPEX funding and co-funding.
The university studentship programme has been expanded this year with the aim of not only generating relevant research data but also ultimately to increasing the supply of research trained graduates entering either the allied industries or directly into the production business.
During 2010 the Regional Health Improvement Scheme developed rapidly with individual farm businesses being organised into working clusters for concerted health improvement and disease eradication programmes.
The programme then moved forward to the stage where the clusters were formed and the web-based disease mapping exercise was carried out in the leading areas of Yorkshire and Humberside and the East of England. The concept is progressing into the phase where this complex programme will become truly national with similar schemes established right across England and Wales.
This work is also supported by the disease surveillance programmes, the BPEX Pig Health Scheme and the National Animal Disease Information Service.
The use of isotopes to determine the origin of a meat sample has moved from being a research method to a commercially usable tool. It can establish precisely whether a sample of meat comes from the UK or not. It is a very powerful tool to ensure labelling is robust and to give consumers what they need to make an informed choice.
BPEX is also increasingly involved in environmental issues affecting the pig industry and has completed initial reports covering the life cycle assessment situation and the environmental impact of the industry associated with climate change.
A roadmap has also been produced looking at what the industry has already achieved to lessen its environmental impact and outline what further steps are being taken.
Love Pork - a campaign
with many messages
It is all about the consumer. If we don’t know what the consumer wants we can’t do anything! So says BPEX head of marketing Chris Lamb and it is understanding the consumer that is at the very core of all the work of the marketing department.
The starting point is ongoing research into what consumers want and that informs all the work that follows. Issues of price, variety and convenience are key to all consumers. And health and sustainability are both gaining in importance. Pork and pork products will score highly in each of these so they need to be included in all the messages we put out.
The prime task is to focus on differentiating Red Tractor pork, bacon and ham from imports to reflect our higher welfare standards. This is particularly important as the EU deadline for the partial ban of stalls and tethers in 2013 is rapidly approaching.
The focus of everything comes down to the LovePork website – everything you ever wanted to know about pork and pork products is there and the site is expanding all the time - a fact promoted through a variety of channels such as Facebook and on-line banner advertisements.
BPEX also runs a series of ‘major events’ to provide opportunities for focusing on and promoting individual products.
Last year there were three, Love Summer Love Pork, British Sausage Week and Bacon Connoisseur’s Week. These provided highly visible heavyweight PR, sold in across the supply chain so everyone’s efforts were co-ordinated to get maximum effect.
British Sausage Week is now firmly established in the calendar and was given a big boost when Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood agreed to champion it. The week was featured on numerous TV and radio shows, there were competitions and the major retailers were also promoting it. It was a huge success and generated coverage which would have cost millions of pounds to buy.
Bacon Connoisseur’s Week takes place early in the year and was championed last year by Strictly star Anton du Beke. One of the highlights was a competition for the best bacon cure which drew in dozens of entries.
The Bacon Connoisseurs Week website also has information about bacon, the different cures and innovative recipes.
But it is not just the consumer who uses pork, there is a huge market in catering in hotel, pubs and restaurants as well as prisons, hospitals, the armed forces and local authorities.Here the aim is to encourage them to specify Red Tractor pork, bacon and ham despite the barriers in place. BPEX is working with caterers and catering butchers to get them to understand that best value for money is not necessarily the cheapest. That in turn will lead to greater support for Red Tractor pork and pork products.
Finally, BPEX is co-ordinating the Pigs Are STILL Worth It campaign across the industry. This campaign is aimed at drawing attention to the need for higher prices at retail level and for those higher prices to be passed down to chain to the producer to give them the chance to stay in business.
Altogether BPEX is committed to a wide range of activities which is contributing to growing demand for British pork and pork products.
Green initiative still to be seized
by Paul Smith
co-editor of the Weekly Tribune
By the end of 2010, the new Carbon Reduction Label, with its distinctive black footprint logo, had been attached to £2bn worth of products. This arose because of the volume of goods being turned over by giant brands sold in UK supermarkets. Since processors and retailers are doing their bit for sustainability, it seems likely that they will expect the same of their suppliers.
This raises two crucial questions:
1) Is the UK pig industry doing enough about greening its image?
2) Is it seen to be tackling the task?
Globally there are many initiatives aiming to develop scientific methodologies for estimating the carbon footprint of food and agriculture. At least 16 different methods have been developed by retailers and countries for product-level footprints. The carbon footprint of food should no longer be evaluated according to its biomass but according to its overall contribution. Pork has a low carbon footprint as a provider of calories but a high one as a provider of vitamin K.
The environmental impact of pork could be minimised if genetic selection criteria changed. Selection based on nutrient yield/kg of greenhouse gases (GHGs) would provide the pig industry with an opportunity to lower its carbon footprint since the selection pressure would be against pollution.
It would be useful, therefore, if research effort could be directed towards the evaluation of the carbon footprint of pork production systems and the associated products. Minimising the carbon footprint could then be a key objective.
It would also encourage supply chain professionals to recognise the contribution that the pig industry could make to minimising the output of GHGs from red meat production. It is vital that the pig industry gets up to speed with this new emergent science.
Ruminants have head start
For good reason, those researching the production of meat and milk products from ruminants have had a head start on the pig industry. This is based on need and the association with high levels of methane production.
As yet, the science behind GHGs is limited but there is mounting evidence that food miles are not a good indicator of environmental damage. There are many myths and misconceptions regarding the green credentials of local production. Statistical correlations indicate a weak link between food miles and carbon footprints. What is far more significant is how food is transported to those who consume it. Generally speaking sea miles offer great advantages in minimising GHG emissions compared to air miles.
How long to lock up?
There is much talk about the need to lock-up carbon but little mention of the significance of how long that carbon remains captive. If a system is to achieve carbon neutral status, carbon must be subjected to a custodial sentence of at least ten years before there is an environmental benefit.
By adopting radical new approaches to farming, livestock production systems can even lock away more carbon than they emit.
A research team lead by Professor Gareth Edwards of Bangor University has made great in-roads towards developing a better understanding of carbon foot printing of lamb and beef production systems. Their approach has involved attempting to measure GHG production from whole-farm systems. One study involved the participation of 23 different farms.
Who will take up this challenge on behalf of the pork chain? Questions the pig industry should be asking include:
- What is the typical footprint of a kilogram of pig meat produced on a UK farm?
- What is its footprint by the time it reaches a kitchen?
- What impact does the widespread use of soya in pig rations have on the overall GHG situation?
- What is the carbon footprint contribution from outdoor pig production and what does the pig enterprise contribute to the whole farm contribution?
- How important are co-products in the reduction of GHG emissions?
- What would be the overall impact on the supply chain if more use could be made of pig offal?
- What is the scope for using anaerobic digestion and composting to harness the energy locked-up in pig waste and dead pigs?
Already the dairy and beef industry have their own roadmaps logging their impact on GHG emissions. There has been a great need for a Pork Roadmap to be developed with financial backing from a government that has declared the need for greater sustainability within agricultural production systems.
The pig industry has made a start in that BPEX has published a commissioned report entitled Pigs and the Environment. Documents such as this help to encourage new thinking. The Pork Roadmap is scheduled to appear this year and will, no doubt, have a significant impact. Ultimately the outcome will be the development of new systems of production and the widespread availability of greener pork products in the shops. Back in the eighties when many in the pig industry
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