Due to an acute backlog at slaughterhouses, more than 35,000 pigs would have already been culled. The National Pig Association, which represents the British pig industry, announced this Thursday at a crisis meeting with the British Ministry of Agriculture.

It is not only rumbling in the Belgian pig sector. In the United Kingdom, too, the pig farmers are with their hands in their hair. Because of an immense shortage of butchers, the pigs cannot be slaughtered and processed as planned. It is estimated that by the end of spring the backlog could reach more than 200,000 pigs. According to the National Pig Association, 40 meat processing companies have already left the sector.

Pig farmers from all over the UK blew Thursday in the city of York gather to call attention to their problems.

Last year, the shortage of staff in the meat industry caused problems. As in many other sectors, before Brexit, many workers from EU countries were employed in the industry. During the corona pandemic, many of them returned to their home countries. Since Brexit, it has been time-consuming and expensive to obtain a work permit in the UK as an EU citizen.

The National Pig Association calls on the UK Government to simplify access to the sector for qualified foreign labour. In addition, the sector is also hoping for a financial contribution.