Profiling exciting new technologies and advice on topics like nutrition, health and waste management, the 2024 British Pig & Poultry Fair is focusing on the key themes of innovation, collaboration and sustainability.
Forward planning has long key to farmers’ success, and this year’s Fair, taking place for the first time at Birmingham’s NEC in May, will help them to ensure a sustainable and low carbon future for their businesses, Fair organiser Alice Bell said.
“Ultimately, it is the job of everyone in the supply chain to work together to reduce the pig industry’s carbon impact – and new thinking and technology will provide some of the answers here,” she added.
- The British Pig & Poultry Fair takes place on May 15-16 at a new venue – the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
- To find out more and register for your FREE ticket visit www.pigandpoultry.org.uk
Innovation theatre
The Innovation Theatre, which will be new to this year’s Fair, will bring together a host of new products and ideas.
One example is Boehringer Ingelheim’s new ‘listening’ system, SoundTalks. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, the system ‘listens’ to the pigs 24/7 and, based on frequency and intensity of coughs, alerts the producer to the onset of potential respiratory disease.
“SoundTalks is absolutely unique,” said Dr Rachel Crowe, senior brand manager at Boehringer Ingelheim. “It has taken years of real farm data to get the algorithms right, and has been extensively validated to ensure that it generates reliable alerts.”
In a study of 1,655 pigs challenged with PRRS and Mycoplasma hyopneumonaiae, alerts generated by the system enabled issues to be detected five days earlier than human observation alone. With more rapid treatment and management, this was calculated to improve daily growth rates by an average of 12.7g, reduce antibiotic treatments by 23.4%, and generate a return on investment of 1:4.3.
Another Innovation Theatre session will explore the circular economy from the perspective of animal bedding. The 2050 Group is creating a new highly-absorbent straw crumb, which will be provided free, on long-term contracts to farmers, where the manure is made available to be processed into biomethane, Bio-CO2 and biobased fertiliser.
“This biobased fertiliser can be used to displace predominantly imported fossil fuel fertilisers, to grow the next cereal crops and their resultant straws, which begins the process again,” said the company’s CEO James Dornan.
Both pig and poultry producers stand to benefit from a new digital product from Livetec Systems, which will revolutionise biosecurity control and help farmers to contingency plan for any emergency, from flooding to a notifiable disease outbreak.
“This is critical when farm businesses are under pressure to respond quickly, as it details everything that those coming on to the farm will need to know, as well as informing the farmer of how these next steps will play out,” says Julian Sparrey, Technical Director at Livetec Systems.
There will be a forum on insect farming, with Beta Bugs and Flybox talking about their combined solution which takes complexity and cost out of insect farming, by supplying eggs and larvae in containerised systems. “Demand for insect protein as alternatives to existing feed ingredients is increasing, making insect farming a mainstream opportunity,” says Dr Thomas Farrugia, CEO at Beta Bugs.
Pig Theatre
Visitors to the Fair, which is staged in partnership with ABN, will be able to meet and gather ideas from around 330 exhibitors, while there will be an excellent line-up of expert speakers in the specialist Pig Theatre, partnered by AHDB.
“This is a chance to discuss the challenges and topical issues of the day,” said Dr Charlotte Evans, AHDB’s head of pork engagement. “As an industry, we can tackle the road ahead together and celebrate our successes – it’s all about collaboration and sharing ideas.”
The headline session will be the popular Pig Outlook, which will see speakers from throughout the supply chain share their views on the challenges and opportunities ahead. There will also be a discussion on contingency planning for African swine fever, and a practical workshop looking at how slurry and waste management can help farmers on their journey to net zero.
An important forum for future planning will examine how to encourage younger people to eat more pork.
“This is a chance to hear what influences Generation Z (18-24 year-olds) – what makes them tick, how we can engage with them, and what this means for your pork business. We will also be covering work going on in schools and the recipes which resonate with younger people,” Dr Evans said.
Fair partner ABN will be looking at how precision feeding and finding sustainable soya replacements will be a key part of reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiencies. And lifecycle feed analysis will help them to determine their feed carbon footprint, said Danny Johnson at ABN.
“This enables them to benchmark where they are currently, before working together to explore alternatives to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their bottom line.”