Dear readers,

Let’s have some good news from the pig industry:

• Smithfield Foods is sponsoring the 2024 National Conservation Foundation-Envirothon Competition, an international environmental and natural resource problem-solving competition that builds leadership experience for high school students, with $89,000 in funding.
• US Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development is providing a $90,000 grant to Penn State University’s Butcher Apprenticeship Program, which intends to train the next generation of skilled butchers. The grant allows butchery students to earn pay as they receive five weeks of specialized instruction, including meat composition, animal anatomy, knife safety, sanitation and occupational health and safety regulations.
• US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is to launch a new investigation into why grocery prices remain inflated when food inflation has eased from its peak, “in order to probe the tactics that big grocery chains use to hike prices and extract profits from everyday Americans at the checkout counter”, as stated by FTC chair Lina Khan. During the investigation, the large grocery chains will be ordered to provide information on their costs and prices on common products. I would like to see such initiatives on EU level also.
• The UK’s departure from the EU subjected UK food exports to a new set of rules and inspections. The new government’s Defra secretary Steve Reed has committed to negotiating a new veterinary agreement with the EU, as part of a ‘new deal for farmers’ to address low confidence and provide stability for the farming sector. Maybe leaving EU was not the best option…

Events calendar:

• The largest event for production chains in Brazil, #SIAVS2024 brings together poultry farming, cattle farming, pig farming and the farmed fish sector in a single major event, promoting a meeting of experts, innovators and leaders in the agro-industrial sector. This year it takes place between 6-8  of August, at the Exhibition Hall (Expo 1 and 2)  on Olavo Fontoura Avenue, 1209 – Santana, São Paulo.
• Vietfood & Beverage is an annual international trade fair focused on the food and beverage industry, held every year since its inception in 2000. The event takes place at the SECC Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh City on 3 days from Thursday, to Saturday, 08.08.2024.

I’m gonna be

While we are used to get good news from the US pig industry, a recent study of conducted by Iowa State University determined that from 2016 to 2020, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) caused an estimated annual loss to the US swine sector of $1.2 billion , which represented an increase of 80% compared to the previous decade. According to professor Derald Holtkamp, the virus caused an estimated $664 million in damage annually between 2006 and 2010. It is worth noting that Hungary was the first country to eradicate PRRS.

In Germany pig farmers have now to report their husbandry practices to the states. This is part of a package of new labeling rules, intended to support minister Cem Özdemir’s fight with the pig industry. The meat giant Tönnies criticizes the regulations and calls for improvements. With the greens still governing 2 years, this can be the point of no return for the once leading German pig industry. In the neighboring Netherlands  Vion is trying to lower the price, acting similar on both sides of the border. In barbecue season this is not a necessary move, so not all slaughterhouses follow the move. While initially made the same decision, Van Rooi quickly reconsidered and kept the listing unchanged. Westfort has announced a correction for next week with the words: a reduction would not have been necessary. The supply in the Netherlands decreases almost every week and in 2023 the price was still 35 cents higher. Slaughterhouses want to have the pigs and that does not rhyme at all with the reduction last week. A decreasing supply is expected for the coming weeks, because more stables will become empty and demand comes also from the German slaughterhouses. As an experienced livestock trader, Van Rooi has understood this and wants to continue slaughtering in the coming years, as it is shown through the better pig price that they really have that ambition. 

            Meanwhile a loud minority of vegans and animal welfare activists are pushing regulations that have no scientific support and generate unnecessary cost on the pig farmers that provide natural protein, food used by mankind thousands of years. We need to be more active in the media, promote meat instead of fake/artificial substitutes and real knowledge of animal farming instead of false believes. Will you do this? I’m gonna be!