Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The pig sector is in crisis and there is a support package urgently needed for the pig sector.

Since mid-2021, pig farms have been under serious pressure. Losses are escalating by the day. There are a number of circumstances. There is a perfect storm there at present for pig farmers. Whether it is Covid disruption, Brexit or the Ukraine dispute, it is all having a severe impact on pig farms.

The first impact of Covid was to reduce the number of staff in processing facilities. In particular, where pig farmers are sending their pigs north of the Border, given a substantial number of our pigs were going north of the Border, they are finding it hard to get these pigs killed. That has had a twin impact in that the pigs are being kept long on the farm and costing more money to feed them, and the carcase weight is increasing as well and the pig makes less money at the end of the day when it is slaughtered. There is also the threat of African swine fever, which now has advanced as far as Germany as it crosses Europe. This is a serious threat to the pig industry as well and is having a negative impact on pricing throughout Europe. The impact of Brexit has been sorely felt by the pig industry. Prior to Brexit, 50% of all our pig produce was going to the UK. It was a lucrative market and those exports have dropped 50% since the Brexit agreement. Our bacon has had to go to less attractive markets, obviously making a poorer price.

Price inflation has impacted significantly on farmers. Grain prices and feed prices have risen dramatically in the past couple of months. Feed has gone up by 24%, energy has risen by 100% and transport costs have risen by 43%.

I was talking to a normal-size pig farmer - a man with 1,000 sows, in the modern concept in this country, is an average-size farmer. Feed per month is costing €32,300 extra; energy, €5,298 extra; and transport, €862 extra.

The price has collapsed. The price, in early 2021, was at €1.90 per kg. Today, that has gone under €1.40, at €1.38 per kg.

Unless this industry gets support, we will have serious losses. We have only 300 pig farmers left in the country. It is a specialised industry, but it is our third most important sector. It is worth €1 billion to the economy.

These farmers are now under considerable financial pressure and a package has to be put in place. Other countries in the EU have stepped in to help their pig farmers and we cannot quote EU state aid rules as being a barrier to this. Poland, France and the Netherlands have stepped in with a temporary state aid framework that allows farmers in these countries to access funding of up to €290,000 per farmer, which is far in excess of the current de minimisstate aid ceiling of €25,000. There is a mechanism within EU regulations to help this sector.

At present, it is estimated that pigs are losing on average €35 a head leaving the farm. That farmer I talking about lately said he is losing €8,000 a week. That is an unsustainable situation. Many of these farmers have invested heavily in their infrastructure in recent years to ensure they have a sustainable method of production and that any risk of pollution is removed. This sector, if it does not get help immediately, will not survive.

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