More animals per company
Hundred thousand Polish pig farmers stopped
More than 2013 Polish pig farmers stopped working between 2016 and 100.000, according to figures from the Polish Statistical Office. A few years of poor earnings and the continuous threat of African swine fever are to blame.
In mid-2017, 172.248 fattening pig farms were registered in Poland. This is considerably less than in 2013, when there were still 278.401 companies on the books. The number of sow farms has also been reduced; from 180.000 in 2013 to 117.000 in the past year. As in the rest of Europe, Polish pig farmers also struggled with low pig farms between 2014 and 2016.
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The many outbreaks of African swine fever also mean that pig farmers often throw in the towel. Other Eastern European countries, such as Ukraine, are also experiencing this disease pressure.
More animals per company
The number of animals has remained fairly stable over the past year. This means that the companies are getting bigger and bigger. In 2013, a Polish pig farm had an average of 41 pigs. In the past year, an average of 64 pigs were kept per farm. In 2016, the Polish pig herd amounted to 11,1 million pigs, compared to 12 million in 2013.
In the years before that, the pig herd shrank faster. About 10 years ago Poland still had over 17 million pigs. Compared to Dutch farms (average 2.392 pigs in 2014), the scale in Poland is not very impressive. This is because pig farming in Poland is often part of the traditional mixed farm.
Wouter Job
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