Need a Product or service?

National Pig Association THE VOICE OF THE UK PIG INDUSTRY NPA is active on members' behalf in Brussels & White-hall, and with pro-cessors, supermarkets & caterers – fighting for the growth and pros-perity of the UK pig industry.

There is still a general view that the controls will affect only large producers.

But this isn't the case, warns Nick White, chairman of NPA's Allied Industries Group. "A 350-sow to finish unit will have to apply, because the trigger point is 2000 finisher places.

I'm sure many people haven't realised that yet."

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) is already in force for producers who want to build new units or who want to significantly alter an existing unit.

The thresholds are 2,000 finishing places (30kg or over) or 750 sows.

A consultant who has specialised in helping companies in other sectors get IPPC permits, estimates the average cost of complying with IPPC conditions, so that a permit is granted by the Environment Agency, is 325,000.

He has suggested the average price for pig producers might be less than this - perhaps 310,000 per application - as the pig industry already operates in a highly regulated environment and much of the necessary paperwork already exists.

IPPC costs
	750-7,500 sows or 2,000-20,000 finisher places	Over 7,500 sows/20,000 finishing places
Preparation costs	No data available... but could be around 310,000
Cost of IPPC permit	One-off payment 32,950*
Annual payment	1,975	2,475
* This is for a "Standard Farming Payment"; units in sensitive areas (perhaps near an SSSI) may not be able to apply for an off-the-shelf permit and may therefore have to pay more. ** Permit charges and annual charges could rise.

Clearly pig producers are not in a position to spend 325,000 on getting a permit, James Black told NPA Producer Group yesterday.

He has asked Defra for financial assistance to enable the industry produce "model applications" for pig producers - in other words ready-prepared templates, which producers would complete in support of their application for an IPPC permit.

James Black has repeatedly made the point that many producers may find they already comply with the majority of IPPC requirements.

An orderly way to proceed therefore, would be to start ticking off these compliance points, so that as 2007 draws near attention can be devoted to the more difficult IPPC requirements. As soon as the sands stop shifting, the necessary information will be posted on this website, to enable producers to do just that.

Source: National Pig Association - 16th September 2003