English pig farmers are having the toughest time in the industry right now

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Food producers said the challenges they face are "the toughest in a generation" as members of the National Farmers Union (NFU) gathered for their annual conference after the first full year of Brexit.

The NFU estimates that 200,000 pigs are kept on farms in England and cannot be sent to slaughter because of labor shortages at slaughterhouses. Meanwhile, 40,000 healthy animals have been slaughtered and have not made it into the food chain.

The government recently announced an immediate review of the supply chain in the pork industry and expanded support measures for pork producers, including allowing foreign butchers to come to Britain for temporary visas, extended working hours at processing plants and a scheme to allow producers to store carcasses for months before processing .

However, ministers did not provide financial support to affected pig farmers, unlike in Scotland, Northern Ireland and some EU countries.


PigUA.info by materials theguardian.com