Results of Shape the Future voting for Pork

In May 2022, every levy payer was invited to have their say on how the levy was spent. This was the first step in delivering our promise to put levy payers at the heart of everything we do.

Levy payers were asked to score on a 1 to 5 scale which areas of work were the most important to them. They also had the opportunity to post individual comments – all of which were considered by the sector council.

The sector council considered all the comments that were submitted via the free text boxes in the Shape the Future vote. The most commonly expressed views supported the prioritisation of post-farmgate work by AHDB, particularly around marketing and the need to support pig prices. In addition, others noted the importance of animal health and welfare and how this links to the reputation of pig meat and the industry as a whole.

Your sector council’s comments on the results

There are significant differences between how smaller businesses and larger ones scored AHDB’s work (as indicated by the marked differences between the weighted and unweighted votes). One challenge for the sector council has been how to reconcile these differences in its decision-making.

However, levy payers from businesses of all sizes, were united in wanting AHDB to prioritise post-farmgate work comprising exports, marketing, and reputational support including education. There were also above-average scores for almost all pre-farmgate work – such as that relating to animal health and welfare and environmental work – so there were no signals to completely discontinue work in these areas.

Post-farmgate work such as defending the sector’s reputation relies in many ways on pre-farmgate work. For example, collecting data on antibiotic usage via the electronic Medicine Book (eMB) is vital in defending the sector against unfair criticism. Also, environmental data collected via AHDB’s Pork Road Map provides proof of the relatively low impact of pork production on the environment.

To give prominence to work that levy payers said they valued most, the sector council scrutinised all work to ensure it gave the best value and did not duplicate the work of others, especially given the changes in the industry and reduction of income.

AHDB’s market intelligence work helps inform government and consumers of the facts about pork and its production. It also boosts the impact of export and marketing activities. For example, by maintaining a deep understanding of global trade AHDB can target the most lucrative markets to open and give focus to export work. Likewise using data on emerging consumer trends can boost the impact of marketing spend to ensure campaigns are inspiring consumers to choose pork more often.

In conclusion, the sector council asked the AHDB team to:

• Prioritise export, marketing, and reputation work. Reputation includes essential animal health and welfare, environmental work, and educational activities to protect and promote the reputation of pig meat with consumers and government
• Scrutinise all other work, eliminate duplication with others, and optimise opportunities to collaborate with others to the benefit of levy payers
• Ensure that all work, directly or indirectly, supports optimising the value from each pig