PIG round-up – ASCA highlights importance of industry engagement

A representative of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA) highlighted the importance of proactive industry engagement when he addressed the NPA’s Pig Industry Group last week.

ASCA oversees the Fair Dealing Obligations (FDO) regulations that are currently in place for the dairy and pig supply chains and are being developed for other sectors.

The full implementation of the Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulations (FDOP) in August coincided with significant turmoil in the market and has added to the confusion for some producers.

A survey of NPA members in the run up to the August 13 deadline for compliance showed, at the time, that only 6% of respondents had an FDOP-compliant contract in place. Nearly two-thirds were aware of the regulations but did not have a contract in place and 22% said they were ‘not very aware’ of FDOP and had not discussed it with their customer.

The NPA coordinated a roundtable event in early September that enabled producers to discuss, anonymously, any issues they had with the regulations with ASCA and Defra officials.

Addressing last week’s PIG meeting in London, a member of the ASCA team explained how experience with the dairy regulations showed the ‘success of good faith early engagement’ to address issues before they became more serious.

“My key message today is that our office is really keen to chat. If in doubt, please, get in touch – it is entirely free and anyone can contact us at any time,” he said.

“We are trying to foster good relations with the industry and our experience with the dairy sector shows that where you get the engagement, it will often remove the need for a formal complaint.”

He said there had been good a good reaction to the recent ASCA survey with more than 100 responses. “The key challenge is making people aware of how they can contact us,” he said.

He outlined the two main ways to contact ASCA:

• The ASCA office’s main email is: asca@defra.gov.uk.
• There is a separate address for anyone who wishes to contact it in confidence: asca-in-confidence@defra.gov.uk

Industry support package

PIG gave its backing to the NPA’s proposed pig industry support package, which was outlined by chief executive Lizzie Wilson before being submitted to Defra later in the week.

The proposed package contains a mix of short-term financial aid and longer-term measures to deliver future stability. You can read more HERE.

Other industry topics covered the meeting included:

• Lizzie delivered an update on the animal rights activity targeting the pig sector, including how industry bodies have prepared and responded so far.
• Lizzie also kicked off a discussion on the growing importance of water quality on Defra’s agenda and how this is becoming more influential in how the pig sector is regulated.
• AHDB pork sector director Mark Haighton delivered an informative update on the pig market, including the fallout from the current market disruption.
• PIG thanked Emma Wormington and Lee Thompson for their enthusiasm and drive as joint chairs of YNPA, during which time membership and activity has soared. The process of appointing successors is now underway after they recently announced they were stepping down.