E.C.O.TRACE®
MULTI SPECIES
View From Europe
By Colin Ley
NOTHING IS SETTLED – NOT EVEN CHRISTMAS This is usually the point in the calendar where business structures are nicely settled for the remainder of the year, annual contracts and commitments are nearing completion and we can all start to think about exploring fresh opportunities over the next 12 months. The feeling for 2021, however, is that almost nothing is settled, not even Christmas. Having written about COP26, Covid-19 and worker shortages in
July, my outline for this current European review would normally have avoided all three subjects. This time, though, each one seems to be even more in the frame than ever. Worker/labour issues have certainly not improved in the last two
months. In fact, it was probably naïve to think this was ever going to be a quick-fix problem. The prospect of empty supermarket shelves has become an early autumn reality, in the UK that is, while the vision of Christmas without the normal abundance of meat products to choose from is now more of a promise than a threat. General media coverage of supply chain problems has been
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extensive in recent weeks, of course, putting pressure on politicians to approve special work permits of the type which I don’t recall being displayed on the side of the pro-Brexit bus when it was being driven around Britain five years ago. I realise we’ve had a pandemic to deal with in that time, but I suspect that particular bus would always have hit the crash barriers by about now. What surprises me about the mainstream coverage of the supply
SMALL INPUT – GREAT EFFECT
of metals and glycine Safe trace mineral supply for high-performance animals Successfully tested in various animal species
chain issue is that almost nobody seems to be aware of the problems that build up on farms when the normal marketing of stock isn’t possible. The UK’s National Pig Association (NPA) highlighted this in late July, pointing out that more than 100,000 pigs were backed up on farms earlier in the year, due to the ‘perfect storm’ of Brexit restrictions on exports, pork plant closures due to Covid-19, and the suspension of exports from some plants to China.
BACKLOG PROBLEMS NPA also made the point that such backlogs result in higher feeds prices, overweight penalties, major logistical difficulties, and potential welfare issues. The Association subsequently ramped up its warning, stating in late
August that tens of thousands of pigs now risk being culled due to staff shortages in meat processing plants. According to an all-industry report, drawn together by the UK
www.biochem.net Feed Safety for Food Safety®
National Farmers Union (NFU) in August, based on labour survey responses from 73 businesses, the vacancy rate is currently 13% across the food and drink sector. Given that we’re talking about a total sector workforce of more than four million, that suggests there is potentially in excess of 500,000 vacancies to fill. Within that overall estimate, there are currently 100,000 heavy goods vehicles which are short of just one
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Comment section is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd
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