The UK breeding herd has halved in 30 years, with a volatile global market squeezing pig farmers. Can they survive in the face of European upheaval and China’s bid to expand pork production?
Anna Longthorp likes looking at her pigs. She stands, hands on hips, with the relaxed gait of a woman used to the challenges of keeping upright in a cracked and furrowed field, and watches her animals. “If your pigs are happy they’ll be more productive,” she says, bluntly. The sturdy porkers in front of us, part Landrace for the long loin, part Duroc for the intra-muscular fat, certainly look the part. Outdoor bred, free range reared, they snuffle in the sandy earth, breaking off to chase each other from one end of their low-density plot to another. Away in the distance are the heavy industry of the Drax and Eggborough power stations, but here, on this reclaimed airfield, is pig heaven.
“A story sells,” Longthorp says, wryly. She knows that the manner in which she raises many of her animals is exactly what a lot of Britain’s food-aware customers want. Attach words such as “outdoor reared” and “free range” to the crackled Sunday roast and the price goes up. If the story is right it will attract a premium.
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