As feed prices soar, British producers say they can survive only if shoppers pay more.
Pig farmers across the country are in crisis because huge increases in the price of grain mean they are losing up to £20 for every animal they produce. Experts warn the industry faces catastrophe unless the price of pork and bacon rises, a move so far rejected by supermarkets.
Global wheat prices have doubled in a year to £180 a tonne, owing to soaring demand for grain in India and China. The decision by an increasing number of farmers to switch from wheat to maize to feed the biofuels revolution is also being blamed. As feed comprises 50 per cent of pig farmers' costs, the rise in the price of wheat is proving disastrous for them - even though bacon is the country's most frequently eaten meat, with the average household getting through 50 bacon sandwiches a year.
'The industry is close to meltdown; it has had its share of difficulties in the past but never anything on this scale and this suddenly,' said Jon Bullock, spokesman for the British Pig Executive. Pig farmers are launching a massive campaign to highlight their plight in the hope that it will persuade the public to buy British pork and bacon. They will also hold a rally near Parliament next month.
On Thursday a 'Save Our Bacon' campaign will be launched at Borough Market in London, backed by celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and Fergus Henderson. Jimmy Doherty, who starred in the BBC2 fly-on-the wall documentary Jimmy's Farm, is another supporter.
But it may be too little too late. Pigs currently sell for 110p a kilo in livestock markets: the British Pig Executive reckons that needs to rise to 140p a kilo for pig farmers to stay in business.
Plunging profits and foot-and-mouth outbreaks have already forced many pig farmers out of business. A decade ago there were 850,000 breeding sows in Britain; today there are only 400,000.
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