May 21, 2009
New Zealand farmers blame imports for pig farming scandal
Imported pork is to blame for keeping sows in cramped stalls, according to three pig farmers located at New Zealand's Taranaki region.
The intensive farming practice of keeping breeding sows in stalls has been in the spotlight since a Sunday programme showed scenes filmed inside a Levin pig farm.
Consumers had reacted strongly on the internet, condemning the practice, and Agricultural Minster David Carter vowed investigation, which the New Zealand Pork Industry said it fully supported.
But the three Taranaki pig farmers said sow stalls are only one part of a very complex issue.
Taranaki District Pig Committee chairman Ted Gane said cheap imported pork produced from using sow stalls had forced local farmers to use the same system to remain competitive.
About 40 percent of the meat comes from overseas and 100 percent of that comes from sow stalls, Gane said.
He noted that 50 percent of sows here are outdoors.
Gane further said consumers were not ready to pay the higher price of less intensively farmed pork, which results in a slow change from sow stalls.
Free-range pig farmer Helen Foreman said without a duty or tax on imported pork, indoor pig farmers would be hard-pressed to afford improvements because there was too much pressure to keep prices down.
Another free-range pig farmer John Earley agreed that money was what keeps sows in stalls and pigs in cramped pens.
The New Zealand Pork Board said intensive pig farming was being phased out, but the price of pork would jump NZ$2 (US$1.2) a kilogramme if it was immediately stopped.
