Tuesday, April 30, 2013

French pig herd down 1 million head, says 10-year survey


    In the past 10 years, The French pig herd has decreased by 1 million pigs (300,000 sows), according to the French Agricultural Statistics Service (Agreste). In 2010 France had 22,300 pig farms, compared to 59,500 in 2000. The number of pigs reached 13.8 million (1.1 million sows) in 2010.
    Even though the number of pigs has decreased, the size of French pig farms have more than doubled, to an average of 620 pigs, reflecting the disappearance of small family farms. In 2000, France had 42,800 farms with less than 100 pigs and 20 sows (an average of five pigs) that represented 72 percent of the pig farms and less than 2 percent of the pig herd. In 2010 there were 10,700 farms, with an average of nine pigs or 48 percent of the farms representing less than 1 percent of the French pig herd.
    The pig census has declined in all the regions except Poitou-Charentes, Champagne-Ardenne, and Alsace. The reduction in the number of sows is Nationwide, but especially in Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine. The west of France is home to 77 percent of pig production, and Brittany has 57 percent of the swine sector.

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