Marketing and exports confirmed as top priorities for pork levy spending

Published in November, the pork sector plan has been built upon levy payer’s views regarding the type of work AHDB should carry out on their behalf. It incorporates discussions between members of the sector council on how to best distribute levy funds based on available evidence and the feedback received via AHDB’s Shape the Future campaign.

Similar sector plans have been set out for the Beef & Lamb, Cereals & Oilseeds and Dairy industries.

Mike Sheldon, who currently chairs the pork sector council, said the campaign incited considerable engagement from the industry, with survey respondents representing more than 50% of the pigs produced and more than 75% of the pigs slaughtered.

“We set out to make the relationship between AHDB and levy payers tighter and more responsive so that AHDB could respond more quickly and more directly to the challenges facing all our levy payers,” Mr Sheldon said.

According to the results of the survey, there was a very clear message from levy payers suggesting that priorities be shifted in favour of pre-farmgate work, with a particular focus on marketing, exports and reputation.

As such, the council set out how funds have been allocated to support work in these new areas of focus over the next five years. The process involved making some difficult decisions that have been heavily influenced by current market conditions and the expected 20% reduction in levy funds, from £9.7m to £7.9m, AHDB said.

Marketing a top concern

Marketing has been identified as an area of high priority in the pig sector and therefore will receive 40% of the total spending pot. Work in this area will continue to promote pork to everyday consumers as a healthy and reasonably priced protein.

To get the message across, AHDB has been organising seasonal campaigns such as Feed the Family for Less or Mix Up Midweek as well as communicating with consumers via various media platforms.

At the same time, AHDB said it had to cut funding to certain initiatives such as the Pig Health Scheme, the Real Welfare programmes and the employment tool Pig Pro to ensure essential programmes can continue to run.

Pork sector council member Rob Mutimer said AHDB is unique in the way it can market pork to producers, in that it is the only organisation that works with all the major producers and supermarkets. He said that as far as marketing efforts go, AHDB prioritised pork over other sectors this year to safeguard its largest and most valuable market.

Meanwhile, around a third of levy funds will go towards identifying new export markets and maintaining current ones. Mexico and Vietnam are among the recently unlocked destinations for British pork, according to council member Mark Haighton.

Moreover, the AHDB said it will continue to work to attract new customers via organising overseas fairs and hosting tours for foreign delegations. Recently, a Vietnamese delegation was given the opportunity to visit a UK abattoir and finishing farm and learn about how top-quality British pig meat is produced, Mr Haighton said.

Lastly, 27% of total funds will be spent on promoting and protecting the reputation of the British pig industry in the wider market. Independent council member Hugh Crabtree said work in this area involves challenging misinformation, providing data and statistics, maintaining high animal health and welfare standards and educational work, amongst others.

Mr Crabtree added that AHDB also has an important role in facilitating an industry-wide response to activist organisations, working in collaboration with the NPA and the NFU.

To uphold the industry’s reputation in the long term, he said AHDB needs to continue informing consumers about the value of pork, how it’s produced, where it comes from, with a particular focus on young people.

Responding to the pork sector plan, NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson said: “We broadly agree with the priorities identified – export development is key to our ability to maximise the value of the carcase and AHDB has an important role in maintaining the industry’s reputation.”

The AHDB will continue to provide opportunities for levy payers to raise their concerns and is open to rearranging its priorities based on future challenges.

The pork sector plan is available to download from ahdb.org.uk/sector-plans/pork