European pig producers met in Norwich, Great Britain
This year’s meeting of the European Pig Producers (EPP) in Norwich, UK, from 05 to 08 June 2008 attracted considerable attention among EPP members and other interested parties. EPP President Per Bach Laursen was able to welcome more than 240 participants from 13 different countries at the conference entitled “How to live with the world's most sophisticated retailers”.
On the first day various speakers described the current situation in British pig production. They made it clear that partly due to animal epidemics and disease-related slumps as well as ever growing demands of the food retail trade, the UK pig farmers had been going through some very difficult years in which pig stocks were reduced heavily. For example, between 2001 and 2007 the sow population was cut from about 600,000 to approx. 436,000. The level of self-sufficiency in pork has now dipped to 50%.
On the second day the thematic areas “Animal Welfare”, “Pig feed raw materials”, “Animal Health” and “Genotypes for different meat markets” were discussed in four different workshops. Animal welfare is given high priority in the UK. The food retail trade, dominated essentially by four major chains there, requires farmers to follow a stringent regime of conditions. One of the results of this is that some 40% of the sows are kept in the open.
The afternoon was devoted to the practice of pig farming. The farms of three British EPP members were open for a “virtual visit”. Many photos, digital films and explanations by the farm managers provided a good insight into production conditions and the respective performance data.
Saturday then presented an opportunity for excursions to two different outdoor farms and a 5,000 hectare arable farm.
At the EPP General Assembly on 06 June 2008, EPP President Per Bach Laursen and Managing Director Dr. Martin Ziron looked back on a successful year. Since the last congress the number of EPP members had increased by 26 persons to now 452 members from 25 countries.
At the General Assembly, Per Bach Laursen and DLG Vice President Helmut Ehlen thanked the retiring EPP Managing Director Dr. Martin Ziron, who will be taking up a post as Professor at the University of Applied Sciences (FH) Soest as of August 2008. The new EPP Managing Director Sven Häuser then introduced himself to the members. The next EPP Congress will be held in Austria from 04 to 07 June 2009. All EPP members and other interested parties are cordially invited to attend.
The speeches of this year’s congress will be available completly here....