Research shows that pig farmers achieve quite good technical results, but there is a large variation between the enterprises. It also shows that few (West Flanders; Belgium) pig farmers have a good and relevant accounting. The position of the enterprises would increase, if the technical results would improve.

Another observation is that the number of pig farms is decreasing, but that the size of the remaining enterprises increases. This reorganization also means that especially the smaller and less efficient farms are forced to stop their business. So especially the most efficient enterprises remain. Because of the increased size of the enterprises, there are other labor and management skills required.

The sector receives advice through (commercial) representatives, but there seems to be a high need for independent advice. Pig farmers also find less opportunities to share their knowledge and exchange experiences and share them with colleagues. ‘Company blindness’ for the own problems on the farm is also a major problem. The lack of cooperation between the different enterprises is a deficiency for the pig farmers. By working together, the pig farmer obtains knowledge and market information, which increase the position within the pig industry.

Inagro wants to play a key role in the above problems for the West Flemish pig producers and wants to share these experiences with external partners through North Sea Interreg.

The projects main objective is to improve the technical and economic results from the companies and thus increase the management capacity. This could be through exchange of knowledge between companies mutually and/or through independent advice in group either individual. In addition we want to develop and implement innovative and sustainable solutions for the future pig breeding.

To stimulate the exchange of knowledge between the companies, we want to bring small groups of pig farmers (with similar operations) from the same region together to share experiences. We propose two types of ‘knowledge cooperatives’.

The knowledge cooperative could be a stable group of pig farmers with a similar type of business. At each meeting there will be discussed about another technical or accounting issue according to the results of the companies. Otherwise the knowledge cooperative could be a temporary group of pig farmers who have one common goal (eg. building projects, producing own feed, reduction of antibiotic use,…). During each meeting, the same subject is discussed in detail until the common goal is reached. After reaching their common goal, the knowledge cooperative on that specific subject will be stopped.

We also want to enhance the knowledge of the pig farmers by organizing study visits across the border and we have the aim to start up transboundary cooperation for exchange of knowledge via international groups of pig farmers. The preparation of an application for the detailed monitoring and adjustment of technical results of sow farms is possible. This could for example be done by a dashboard function and the publishing of practical articles.

We also want to organize courses in the winter about specific topics such as management packages, technical and economic indicators or other topics.

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Partners with experience in extension of management and technical knowledge of pig producing for farmers.