ORGANIC PIGS IN EUROPE: a level playing field?

How and why is organic pork in such a poor place in Irish agriculture, and what can be done to improve it?

Let's talk to an award winning pig farmer about production and the various issues, and look at what happens elsewhere in Europe.

PJ and JP Crowe's organic farm is in Dundrum, west Tipperary, nine miles from the Limerick boarder.

Along with cattle, they have 12 sows and their followers, which totals about 170 pigs, between sows, bonhams and weaners.

Last year, their organic rashers won the top prize at the National Organic Awards - they have on farm processing and make a range of pork products.

OM: With such a top quality and high profile product, you would imagine that they could easily expand production.

JPC: Dunnes love our rashers. They would take them into central distribution to sell on a wide scale, but we don't have the product on that scale. There is no organic pig production in Ireland effectively.

The demand is there though, we'd sell a lot more but we can't grow our business further at the moment.

OM Why is this? Tell me about specific issues in production.

JPC: We have a four year rotation which minimises parasites. This in turns means that we can avoid the routine treatment of antibiotics.

The fresh air access the pigs have does certainly cut down the health issues – I haven't needed to treat for pneumonia or worms yet, and I'm convinced the outdoors helps with this. Fresh air is the most most natural thing in the world. In an indoors only system, if one of them gets sick, they all get sick.

We operate a grass based system, there are no tillage crops here as the soil is too heavy. My rotation involves grass with clover, but the rotation has high P and K because of the pig dung.

OM: Are there any knock on effects from this?

JPC: There are. High P and K enriches the soil, but also increases the weeds and docks, which love these conditions.

Anywhere that's reseeded, you can't spray as you can under conventional to kill off unwanted vegetation, and you get a dock infestation. The docks and weeds fights the grass, and organic methods are slower to get rid of docks. This in turn inevitably lowers the stocking rate for the cattle in the rotation. Pigs in a rotation means lower stocking rate for cattle.

OM How has the weather effected your farming system here?

JPC: Grain quality and under cover conditions are poor: if pigs are left out too long, there are cross compliance issues because of poaching and rooting up the land. Nutrient leaching can be a problem with too much water. So you have to bring them in before that happens.

There are also high levels of rain here in general, for outdoor pig production, and last year was higher that usual.

A pig won't thrive if its just outside in the wet and cold all the time – its just being fed to kept warm, and feed quality isn't especially good at present.

OM How much time did the pigs spend outdoors last year?

JPC: We left out our pigs at the end of March, brought them in at the end of July, and they could have even come in before that. They were indoors but with outdoor access; they had a concrete padded area, but could go out if they wanted to, with the straw bedding indoors.

OM Were there any issues with the certification bodies on this?

JPC I worked with IOFGA to verify that it was all acceptable. The cert bodies are there to help, welfare is first for animals under organic, so it was common sense, the weather was difficult for humans let alone pigs.”

What sort of organic pig regime operates in Ireland, and how could we increase the number of organic pigs here?

Ireland operates an outdoor, free range organic pig production system. Farmers have the option of bringing pigs indoors in extreme weather and over winter.

According to the standards “the pig enterprise should be free range and allow the pigs direct access to the soil and green food. Wallows and shade should be provided over the summer months”

IOFGA's Development Officer, Grace Maher, adds “in a particularly wet year like 2012 it is apparent to everyone that weather conditions may not be suitable to have animals outside. Farmers are not required to record the weather but they do have a record of their rotations and when animals are in specific fields and pastures” so there is in effect, “a record of where the animal is at all times including when they are forced indoors due to bad weather.”

The UK Soil Association's publication “Pig Ignorant” is a guide to being a successful small holding organic pig farmer. It points to the optimum conditions for keeping pigs:

“Ideally your land will be free draining in a low rainfall area (less than 800mm)...heavy land or high rainfall can lead to problems with soil erosion and animal welfare.”

Free draining soils with 800mm rain is not the reality in many parts of Ireland. JP Crowe tells me that his typical rainfall is about 1000mm, and last year, was 1300mm. He also happens not to have free draining soil, so his expansion options are limited.

According to JP “Parts of the UK where they have a lot of organic pigs, its a micro climate, with chalk soil. Some will also ave free draining land, so the pigs stay out all year, even over the Winter. Its optimum and there is very little soil erosion. There are very few sites like this in Ireland.”

Suprisingly, there are three different pig keeping regimes within organic in different parts of Europe: indoors, mixed indoors-outdoors and outdoors.

It may suprise consumers, and even some farmers, to know that countries such as Switzerland, Germany and Austria operate indoor organic pig enterprises, where the pigs simply have access to a concrete outdoor run.

Irish organic pig farmers have to compete with farmers who have this indoor system, with all the benefits in scale and productivity indoors can bring.

Comparing EU indoor and outdoor systems, organic researchers at FiBl Switzerland, citing UK research state “outdoor management may result in slightly better health, as reflected by mortality and replacement rates, but in poorer reproductive performance, as reflected by litters per sow per year and litter size” they state, even allowing for conception rate differences.

JP Crowe points to some benefits of the indoors: “Indoors you can obviously control feed and temperature levels, its a more balanced system. You can control the environment more and manage daily livewieght gain.”

So what are the key considerations?

A pen picture reveals some elements: an organic high welfare pig, one that ideally spends as much time as possible outdoors, exposed to both the elements and variety (wallows, shade) so they can have fresh air, feel the elements on their skin and underfoot, and can benefit from the better health performance outdoor pigs display. Feed would have to be certified organic, and thus always GM-free. Indoor access should be available, with straw bedding, which allows for plenty of rooting material.

This mixed, indoor-outdoor set up, as practiced in France and Sweden, would allow farmers to get benefits from both systems.

And perhaps, in the standards, there is something of a window, and a way to begin a conversation on organic pigs in Ireland: “open air areas may be partially covered” the IOFGA standards state.

The pig itself of course, knows what he wants, as JP Crowe concludes: “if its lashing rain outside and freezin', he'd be inside in the straw asleep with his belly full. You can be sure of that.”

That's our discussion regarding ORGANIC PIGS IN EUROPE: a level playing field?

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