Finding Latest Feed Info
The USDA has released its first estimations of supply and demand for the 2009/10 season with wheat production seen at 657Mt, down 4% (25Mt) from 08/09. Global maize production is forecast to fall by 2.7Mt to 785.1Mt in the 09/10 season, with global ending stocks estimated to fall by 11.4Mt, to 128.2Mt; the lowest ending stocks seen since 2004/05. This may lead to a tightening in world feed grain markets as demand is forecast to outstrip supply in the 09/10 marketing year.

Marketing News

Open Farm Sunday
With only a couple of weeks to go for farms participating in the Open Farm Sunday event on June 7, BPEX has a selection of promotional material available for use with children.  These include: pig tails posters & quiz sheets; a snackathon dietary game; pork carcase cut posters large & small; a set of technical cards which detail on farm best practice and a variety of recipe leaflets. If you would like to make use of these please email (sooner rather than later) info@ahdbms.org.uk with your address details.

ALDI Expands British Pork Range
Three new product lines are being offered in Aldi from w/c 25th May 09 along with another 2 lines in the pipe line.  The products all carry the Quality Standard mark and include; 500g pack of Rind on Boneless Belly Strips, a pack of 2 Pork Medallions (300g) and a pack of 2 Pork Chops (340g).  Aldi along with FA Gill, the producers, jointly developed the products to offer customers increased choice value for money.  Wolverhampton based F A Gill are one of the last privately owned abattoirs slaughtering quality standard pigs.  For more information contact richardb@fagill.co.uk

Children Lack Basic Cooking Skills
Three quarters of British children do not know how to boil an egg, research suggested today.   Almost half of the youngsters in the UK (45%) never or rarely help with making the evening meal, even though around a third of parents (34%) want them to take part.   The poll for supermarket chain Morrisons said 37% of children preferred watching television or surfing the internet to cooking, while two in five said they were too stressed about homework or too tired to help.  It also revealed that a third of parents had learned to cook from their own mothers and fathers, and 80% viewed culinary ability as an important skill.  Author Annabel Karmel said: "Today's parents just don't have the time or the patience to get the children involved in the kitchen. A third (27%) of parents admit it's easier to let their children watch television than to enlist their help with the evening meal. Cooking is a great way for children to learn about maths, measuring, and understanding time, so it's worth the effort.

What's more it's a great way to get fussy eaters to try new foods."A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "We know that many adults don't pass on cooking skills to young people, which risks children growing up uninterested in cooking or living healthily.

"Practical cooking lessons are compulsory in primary schools and we're making them compulsory in all secondary schools from 2011 for the first time ever.   1,000 children and 1,000 parents were polled online by March 2009. For more info click here.

Breaking News
The Pigs Are Worth it Campaign has won a major international award. Watch this space for details next week.

Knowledge Transfer

Tip of the Week: Heat Stress Options
Providing sows with choices of how to cool down over the summer months gives a large group of dry sows a better chance of avoiding heat stress. One unit recently visited by a KT manager provides backless dry sow huts, shades, and wallows in all dry sow paddocks.

The sows seem to find one of these areas preferential and you will see groups in wallows, in backless huts and under the shades on straw pads. The unit provides wallows near the troughs which is not ideal but when they only had wallows the large group would limit the access to the troughs, which is a problem for submissive sows who couldn’t access the drinking water.

Regional NPA meeting – Wiltshire
How English pig producers beat wasting disease. Don’t miss the South West meeting on 16th June near Wiltshire, starting at 4 pm followed with a buffet supper. It will be about "the Marketplace" and "PCV2" vaccine results, plus NPA affairs. For more information contact Zoe Davies. Venue: Marsh Farm Hotel, Wootton Bassett, Swindon SN4 8ER.

Mini Muck!
Bob Marsden the catchment sensitive Farming Officer (CSFO) for the Peak District Dales has successfully secured grant aid from the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) towards a slurry tanker with shallow injector, for use on the family farm. Part of the grant application is to demonstrate the innovative technology on the farm. Mini Muck is a joint event with DairyCO and is part of the demonstration programme. If you are a farmer interested in applying for grant aid for a shallow injection you should attend this event.

To book your free place and dinner at this event you can either email emlmas@naturalengland.org.uk or call 0115 9005350 giving your name, address and CPH number. It is on Wednesday 10th June 09, 10:30am - 3:30 at Thorpe Farm, Hathersage, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S32 1BQ

Better Communication="Better" Remuneration!
A split site unit visited by a KT manager historically had poor communication between sites. Pigs were transferred from the weaner accommodation regardless of condition, health or size meaning that the pigs were difficult to sort on arrival at the grower site.

But…following discussions, the managers now talk about the condition of pigs and the space availability prior to transfer, meaning that grower accommodation is prepared in advance of pigs arriving. Pigs are grouped by size prior to transport and animals not performing to target are kept at the weaner site until they are of an appropriate size to be moved to the grower accommodation. As a result of these changes more uniform groups of pigs are moving through the system, staff know the number, size and condition of pigs at each site, grower accommodation can be prepared in advance of pigs arriving and overall finished pigs are more uniform, leading to improved financial returns.

To read more examples of simple ways to improve performance and financial returns take a look at some of the farm case studies available on the BPEX website.

Ammonia Emissions
The EA have written to all those farmers who are required to reduce ammonia emissions from their production sites as part of their EPR (IPPC) Permit conditions informing them about survey work by Natural England. The protected Habitats implicated are have been, or are being surveyed for evidence of ammonia damage. On some sites, no evidence of damage has been found, consequently some permit conditions will be removed. The EA and NE will be contacting farmers individually with an update.

National News:

New Salt Targets
The FSA revised and new salt targets for 2010 and 2012 have been published and are available by clicking here. 

Some key points are:

• The revised 2010 target for bacon has been set at 3.00g salt average (3.25 maximum had been proposed). The target for 2012 is 2.88g average.
  · The revised 2010 target for ham and other cured meats has been set at 2.00g salt average (2.13 maximum had been proposed). The target for 2012 is 1.63g. 
• Cured tongue is now specifically excluded from the ham/other cured meats category. 
• A 2012 target of 1.8g average has been set for ‘Cheddar and other hard pressed cheeses’. A target maximum has not been set. 
• The target for canned tuna remains at 1.0g average and a maximum has not been set.

Future of QSM
The English pig industry will remain in control of its marketing message when the Quality Standard Mark is replaced by the Red Tractor, promises BPEX Mick Sloyan, director of BPEX.

Quoting Deep Throat’s advice to reporter Bob Woodward during the Watergate investigation, he said, “Follow the money.” Although BPEX would be contributing its share of £500,000 for core funding of the Red Tractor, the rest of the pig marketing spend would remain entirely under the control of BPEX.

“It will not be passed over to Assured Food Standards. We will remain in control of our own marketing and our own messaging,” he promised at this week’s meeting of NPA Producer Group.

Furthermore the Quality Standard Mark would continue to be marketed as robustly as ever until at least next April, he said.

Explaining the background to why the Quality Standard Mark is being replaced by the Red Tractor next year, Mick said consumer research had shown there needed to be a reduction in the number of marks being used.
Retailers had listened to what shoppers were saying and were pushing "quite heavily" for some rationalisation. (Source: NPA Website)

International News

China Pig Breeding Investment
China has earmarked 3 billion yuan (€322 million) this year to support the large-scale breeding of pigs and cows in a bid to stabilise agricultural development and help raise farmers' incomes, the State Council has announced.

Zhang Xiaoshan, director of the rural development research institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the central government's announcement of the fresh investment will help stabilise pork prices, amid fears of the A(H1N1) flu.

Earlier this month, pork prices in three of the biggest markets in south China's Guangzhou dropped significantly.

Statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) last week showed pork prices in major Chinese cities averaged 10.13 yuan (€1.1) per kg at the end of April, down 10.4% from the same period last year.

Help for Italian Pig Industry
The Italian Ministry of Agriculture has proposed significant government assistance for the country's pig breeders, with the aim of a "strategic revamp" of the ailing sector.
The ministry may be planning a mix of subsidised credit and government purchases with support from banks and agricultural organisations.

Brussels has already reviewed the proposal and the Italian Ministry of Agriculture is hoping to launch the plan by July 2009.

Italy has devised a plan to automate all regional slaughter structures that process more than 7 million animals each year.

Pig production in 2008 increased by 0.5% to 12 882 000 head, according to the Italian Pig Breeders Association (ANAS).

Imports of live swine in 2009 decreased by 40% (32 000 tonnes) from 2007 levels. Italy's pig sector produces 9.3m animals annually, worth €2.3 billion.

Italy has not enacted any new trade regulations for swine, pork, or pork products as a result of the H1N1 outbreak.

Despite assurances that pigmeat is not a source of the virus, consumption has declined by an estimated 8-10% and prices have fallen 5% to less than €1/kg.

French Call for Help
At next week's meeting of the European agricultural council, France will call for the reintroduction of pigmeat export subsidies. Having seen a reduction in its national pig herd and in annual pigmeat production it is now seeing a fall in exports too — down 16 percent in January-February. Projected fall in the French pig herd this year is 1.6 percent, but this figure is optimistic.

France's call for export subsidies will likely be supported by Italy, where producers have significant debts after four years of losses and are now struggling to get loans extended as banks become more cautious about lending.

Export Bulletin
For the latest Export Bulletin, click here.

International Prices
For the latest international prices, click here.