A Northamptonshire pig breeder has explained how is energy costs have trebled, as BBC Countryfile focused on the impact of soaring energy prices on farms.
Charlie Thompson, of Bridge House Farm, a former National Pig Awards winner explained how it requires a lot of energy to heat rooms for young pigs to 26 degrees, and then as they get older and produce more heat, it also costs a lot to pump heat from the rooms and ventilate them properly with fans.
You can view the feature HERE, from 10 mins.
“We’ve got 7000 pigs that constantly need feeding, water, ventilation and heating. The power demands are just going up astronomically up in terms of the cost of everything.
“Across the last five years, we were looking at around £50,000 per year for our energy. In April, it went up to £150,000 and, if we had the prices we were paying in September for a whole year, we would be looking at £250,000 a year.
“This is on top of multiple other costs over the last few years,” he said, citing Brexit issues, which are still not resolved, and the impact of the Ukraine war on feed prices. “It seems to be one thing after another. You can deal with one of these, but dealing with all these things is just pushing us over the edge.”
The farm has some solar panels, but cannot afford other renewable sources, such as wind power, due to the huge capital costs involved. The programme also interviewed NFU deputy preside Tom Bradshaw, who agreed farmers had been receiving ‘mixed messages’ from Government when it comes to renewable energy.
Charlie said they have even given ‘serious consideration’ to using a diesel burning generator to keep costs down, which he said, while it might not be desirable, would be cheaper than the prices they are paying now for energy.
The Government has capped the unit cost of energy for businesses over the winter, but this will only last until next spring. More details are likely to be unveiled in the Chancellor’s statement this week.