Shipments to China have become the main driver of pig exports from Russia in 2024, Yuri Kovalev, Director General of the National Union of Pig Farmers, said at the Agrotrends 2024–2025 conference. Currently, China is among the top three buyers of Russian pig products; by the end of the year, shipments there could approach 50 thousand tons, and total Russian pork exports could reach 300 thousand tons, the union predicts.

“Our exports continue to grow at a good pace. Last year, we reached approximately 240 thousand tons. This is approximately 5% of our production. But this is the maximum we could achieve in open markets. But starting this year, China has opened up for us. And so you can see that China is providing us with all of this year’s growth,” Yuri Kovalev said.

Defra has published new ammonia emission factors for pig and poultry farms, which, according to AHDB’s Zanita Markham, will save British pig farmers more than £15m.

The updated figures follow AHDB’s multi-year ammonia monitoring trial, the findings of which have been incorporated into the Environment Agency’s (EA) updated ammonia emission factors.

They show a significant reduction on previous emissions factors, in some cases by half, which will help farmers who require an environmental permit and should also support planning applications.

All permitted producers – indoor pig units with more than 2,000 pigs above 30kg, or more than 750 sows – are required to meet the best available technique (BAT) associated emission levels (AELs), which are benchmark levels for farms to achieve. A new set of BAT conclusions, published in 2017, included limits on emission levels for ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus.

Zanita, AHDB’s projects and engagements relationships manager (pork), said it was clear that by using the older emission factors (EFs), which were very outdated and not representative of current production, that UK pig farms were not going to reach compliance with the BAT AELs.

“But the AHDB project provided updated data on the performance of different types of modern pig housing and evidence to support revising the ammonia emission factors for UK pig housing. The data we gathered showed emissions on pig farms today are generally much lower, and in some cases have halved,” she said.

With the changes to EFs, most units are already compliant with the new target emissions levels,” she added. “For example, factors for finishers on straw are now an average of 1.88kg of ammonia per animal place per year compared with the outdated figure of 2.97kg.”

The Animal Plant Health Agency’s laboratories at Weybridge, which protect the country against the increasing threats of animal and plant diseases, will now be safeguarded and enhanced – ensuring we maintain our world-leading scientific and veterinary capability.

The move will help deliver on the government’s Plan for Change mission to deliver growth by helping to protect profits for farmers and other food producers.

The Government inherited the laboratories in poor condition with their long-term future in doubt - posing a significant risk to Britain’s farmers and human health.

Weybridge is the UK’s primary capability for managing the threats posed by the spread of diseases carried by animals, many of which pose a significant threat to public health, the food and farming sector, the wider economy, and the environment. It is critical national infrastructure and a global centre of expertise in a wide range of animal diseases, providing ‘end to end’ capability from research to outbreak response.

The threat from zoonotic diseases is increasing globally, with nearly two-thirds of infectious diseases in humans originating in animals such as Avian Influenza and bovine tuberculosis.

The funding will enable the APHA to replace and upgrade the biosecurity facilities providing increased capability to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks. This new science hub will provide additional capacity to meet both current and future requirements, including enhancing its ability to handle concurrent major disease outbreaks.

The development is essential in safeguarding the livelihoods of farmers and rural communities, who face significant impacts in an animal disease outbreak such as movement restrictions and loss of livestock. The export of livestock, meat and meat products, dairy and animal by-products is worth £16 billion per year to the UK economy. These exports are safeguarded by the services that APHA provides.