The union was welcoming the Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots’ announcement that a new support scheme worth £2million for local pig farmers is to be rolled out to address the financial losses caused by market volatility, increasing input costs and getting pigs moved off farm for slaughter.

UFU president Victor Chestnutt said the scheme is needed greatly and will help to alleviate some of the financial pressure members are currently under.

“We’ve been engaging with DAERA officials over the past number of months about the deteriorating state of the sector and are pleased that the Minister has recognised the vital need for this support. It comes at a critical time when they are on their knees experiencing a crisis like never seen before. After months of enduring low pig prices and rising input costs, the impact locally of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine has pushed them to breaking point,” he said.

“The new support scheme will help to deal with some of the losses already incurred on farm, but it’s important to stress that it will not cover the losses which our farmers continue to endure. Since the war in Ukraine, the market price of feed has soared to levels not seen before. The Northern Ireland pig industry is hanging on a knife edge. A price increase is still needed from retailers to ensure the security of the industry during this extremely difficult period.

“The NI pork industry has delivered a high-quality product, produced to world leading environmental and animal welfare standards for decades. If the sector collapses, our consumers will see a premium, local product disappearing from shop shelves, local food security will take a massive hit having a knock-on effect on rural communities and the NI economy.

“We are in dire need of retailers delivering an immediate increase in prices paid and consumers being understanding and supportive of that so that we can sustain our local pig sector. We’re all aware of how vulnerable global supplies have become, we need to be supporting local food production and helping to protect our food producers during these difficult times.”

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Speciality cuts and speciality sausages may be more difficult to deliver, deputy president William Irvine warned.

He told Neighbourhood Retailer that it may be necessary to cull healthy pigs, if matters get much worse.

However, he felt it was unlikely that Northern Ireland retailers will have to resort to importing pork products from Europe.

Farmers in GB have warned that a mass cull of pigs could be on the cards due to a surplus of swine as a result of labour shortages in abattoirs.

A post-Brexit exodus of eastern European workers has been blamed for the labour difficulty, with some abattoirs operating at 20% below capacity.

Labour issues

Mr Irvine said the pig sector here is also facing serious difficulties.

“There’s a lot of pressure at farm level with not being able to move pigs off.  There are labour issues in the processing factories and they can’t process the normal quantity of pigs, and that means quite a tight timeline on pig production,” he says.

“Certain number of pigs normally leave the farm each week and when that doesn’t happen there’s a pressure on the farm. The other consequence is that pigs are not going, but they’re still eating meals, and when they do get away they’re overweight and they cost more and return less.”

Mr Irvine said Northern Ireland isn’t at the stage of mass culling just yet, but it may have to be considered.

“There’s no easy answer to what is the best thing to do here, and it’s always an option – if it continues to get worse it’s going to have to be considered,” he said.

“We’re trying all avenues to see if we can get more throughput through the factories.”

From a retail point of view, the number of product lines that would normally be in shops is probably already being reduced, he said.

“They’re streamlining product in every way they can and delivering the most handy and speedy cuts, so consumer choice is going to be limited,” he said.

“Demand from GB is strong, so in the run-up to Christmas there will be a reduced number of lines.”

Mr Irvine warned that the speciality cuts and speciality sausages may not be as simple to deliver.

“If you want a nice ham for Christmas I would buy it soon and have it in the freezer, rather than leaving it until Christmas Eve,” he warned.

And he warned that political intervention is needed to resolve the problem.

“If we could get more workers online, the pigs are there and demand for products is there – there’s just this hiccup in the middle. That answer lies with the highest political level to free up labour,” he said.

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