In Great Britain, thousands more healthy pigs will have to be slaughtered and destroyed if the government does not quickly address the severe staff shortages in British slaughterhouses.
Not only due to coronavirus infections among the current (British) staff, but mainly due to the departure of (cheap) Eastern European workers following Brexit, the British meat industry is already experiencing a capacity shortage of around 25 percent.
British pig farms are currently struggling with a backlog of an estimated 70,000 slaughter pigs. This backlog is increasing at a rate of 15,000 animals per week. For pig farmers, costs continue to rise because the pigs that are not slaughtered still need to be housed and fed but do not generate any income.
The National Pig Association is one of the food and agricultural organizations behind the so-called Grant Thornton report, which last week called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to implement a temporary residence permit for foreign staff. The presence of large numbers of foreign guest workers (due to the rules on free movement of EU citizens) was an argument for many Britons in favor of leaving the EU two years ago.
This weekend, the tabloid Mail on Sunday, for years the biggest supporter of Brexit, advocated for a deal with the EU for a new type of temporary visa scheme. “We are desperately seeking support from the Home Office to facilitate the return of these workers. For the second time in less than a year, the pig sector faces some really tough choices,” said the National Pig Association.
The pork industry expects an exodus of pig farmers next year because they have simply had enough – they have been losing money for almost a year. They currently supply about forty percent of the pork consumed in the United Kingdom. If more pig farms stop operating, the country will have to import more from the EU – the ultimate irony of Brexit, it is noted.
A few weeks ago, the British poultry industry also sounded the alarm about staff shortages. That sector employs over 40,000 people but now has more than 7,000 vacancies. Due to the labor shortage, poultry meat production has decreased by 10 percent.