The National Pig Association is considering a national ad campaign to 'name and shame' supermarkets that do not do enough to support British pig farmers after a warning letter to retailers failed to get the hoped-for response.
In the letter, sent to the boards of the UK's major supermarkets two weeks ago, chairman Stewart Houston called on retailers to pay pig farmers more, and warned that failure could put them in breach of their CSR commitments and plunge the pig industry further into crisis.
To date, three retailers had responded to the letter, Houston said. But although all said they were committed to British farming and acknowledged the pig industry was facing a problem because of soaring wheat prices, none had put forward concrete solutions, he claimed.
"I did not get any indication that they understood the consequences of this crisis," he said. "They weren't addressing the need for them to put more money back into the supply chain."
Houston said he would now write again to retailers, pointing out that he did not think they had addressed the problem.
If this failed to galvanise them into action, the NPA would consider escalating its campaign by taking out full-page ads in the consumer press, naming and shaming unsupportive retailers. A decision on this was due to be made by the NPA this Friday, after The Grocer had gone to press.
"This is the final attempt to engage," Houston said of his letter campaign. "The way wheat futures are fixed up, pig farmers will have no respite from high feed prices for the next 14 months."
If nothing was done on pork prices, pig farmers would be forced to kill more and more sows, reducing the amount of British pork available in the future, Houston added.
Although his campaign had not yet produced the results he had hoped for, he said he felt vindicated in reminding retailers of their CSR commitments.
"They all responded to this in their letters in some way," he said.
In the letter, sent to the boards of the UK's major supermarkets two weeks ago, chairman Stewart Houston called on retailers to pay pig farmers more, and warned that failure could put them in breach of their CSR commitments and plunge the pig industry further into crisis.
To date, three retailers had responded to the letter, Houston said. But although all said they were committed to British farming and acknowledged the pig industry was facing a problem because of soaring wheat prices, none had put forward concrete solutions, he claimed.
"I did not get any indication that they understood the consequences of this crisis," he said. "They weren't addressing the need for them to put more money back into the supply chain."
Houston said he would now write again to retailers, pointing out that he did not think they had addressed the problem.
If this failed to galvanise them into action, the NPA would consider escalating its campaign by taking out full-page ads in the consumer press, naming and shaming unsupportive retailers. A decision on this was due to be made by the NPA this Friday, after The Grocer had gone to press.
"This is the final attempt to engage," Houston said of his letter campaign. "The way wheat futures are fixed up, pig farmers will have no respite from high feed prices for the next 14 months."
If nothing was done on pork prices, pig farmers would be forced to kill more and more sows, reducing the amount of British pork available in the future, Houston added.
Although his campaign had not yet produced the results he had hoped for, he said he felt vindicated in reminding retailers of their CSR commitments.
"They all responded to this in their letters in some way," he said.
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