MP’s campaign to help pork go Down Under

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart, whose constituency is home to one of the biggest pig-producing areas of the country, said he would be campaigning for Minister Jim Paice, to bring home even more bacon by helping the industry enter markets including Australia.

Much of the pork that will be exported to China is from the so-called “fifth quarter” of the pig such as offal and trotters which tends not to be consumed in the UK. The Government is hopeful the market will immediately be worth £50m a year – a figure that should grow considerably higher in the years to come.

Mr Stuart said: “With many pig farmers and Cranswick’s Preston facility in my constituency, pork exports are an important part of the local economy. I’m delighted that we’ve secured this deal so that we can reverse the long-term decline in UK pork production which occurred under the last Government.”

He added: “In the Budget the Chancellor highlighted the importance of increasing British exports to countries such as China, who have enormous and growing economies.

“Agriculture Minister Jim Paice and the Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs have done a great job in securing this landmark deal. Now I will be campaigning for the Minister to go further and help the industry open up even more markets like Australia for British pork.”

Just as important to the UK and Yorkshire will be the sale of pig-farming techniques to China – much of them related to genetic science and raising productivity.

China is keen to improve its technology and farming systems in a country where people still rear their sows – 25 per cent of the world’s entire stock – in back yards.