Keeping tabs on policy changes abroad

In January, we took six pig meat exporters to California to understand how our producers might be able to take advantage of Proposition 12 – a law recently introduced in the US state.

Proposition 12 prohibits the sale of pig meat where the animals have not been produced in accordance with the state’s new standards. As a result, US domestic production is unlikely to be able to meet demand in California. British pig producers are, however, well placed to meet some of this demand, and during our trade mission we showcased our world-class produce.

In February, we also led a trip to Spain – where there has been a rapid uptake of alternative farrowing systems – with HIPRA pharmaceuticals.

We met with large-scale producers and industry representatives to discuss some of the challenges and solutions that may be aligned with British pig production; sow and piglet management and technical guidance on pen designs are very closely matched, for example.

We also came away with accurate statistics on the Spanish pig sector’s recent progress, which are important to analyse because any developments in the EU will need to be scrutinised as we continue to trade on the continent.

We'll be sharing more outputs from this trip in due course, but if you want to find out more about it in the meantime, get in touch with Zanita Markham.

The group were given a tour of HIPRA’s pharmaceutical development site