EVEN though I have been a strong critic of Malton Foods' anti-British policies, the news this week of a £5.4m loss in the first six months came as a nasty shock.

Only a very few years, ago the management were lowering prices to our producers at an alarming rate, which was a major contributory factor to the worst pig crisis we have ever known in the industry.

So we are entitled to ask what has gone wrong?

Unigate, or UNIQ as it has now become, is a giant of the food processing industry; but probably, with hindsight, the policy of trying to control the whole supply chain was a mistake. The acquisition of Malton Foods, and subsequent purchase of the two Hargreaves abattoirs at Spalding and Middlesbrough, put Unigate in command of around 50pc of the UK's slaughter pigs.

Modernising plants and boosting output meant inevitable dedication to the big supermarkets and this, I am afraid, is a little like selling your soul to the devil. As has been consistently shown, the big supermarkets are purely price driven; and when they pay the piper they have called the tune, for ever cheaper pork no matter what its source.

Malton Foods responded by importing an increasing percentage of its pig meat from Europe, now it is rumoured to be around 40pc of its production. In so doing, they have turned the screw on British pig producers and bear at least a lump of responsibility for decimating that industry.

The basic economic principle of supply and demand took over; and when numbers dropped to a sufficiently low level, prices started to rise again earlier this year. Malton Foods has made repeated attempts to drag prices back down but, fortuitously, there was sufficient competition left to keep the market at a sustainable profit level.

Malton were now in a Catch 22 situation which they cannot control any more. On the one hand, they had built up 11 production sites in the UK and Northern Ireland, and on the other they could no longer process British pork to fit the price that the supermarkets were prepared to pay. Something had to give, and first it was the sale of the slaughterhouse at Spalding and now it is the disposal of the Middlesbrough abattoir.

Make no mistake about it, it is desperately sad news for the British pig farmer but the Good Book tells us that you reap what you sow, and that is just what has happened at Malton.

In more simplistic terms, they have strangled the life out of many pig businesses with below the belt prices, increased European imports and the questionable substitution of British labels for foreign produce. They should have stood firm behind our farming fraternity and proudly attached the Union Jack to proper British pork and certainly refused adamantly to cover up the country of origin of processed foods.

It's all right complaining about the strength of the pound, but the malady goes a lot deeper.

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I keep trying to hammer out the message that I am not against Europe, but do want a level playing field; and this last week, there have been several revelations about the bumpy ground on which we have to bat.

Firstly, my Ryton correspondent sent me an article from the Saturday Telegraph of the much-vaunted sticky rules of labelling. The red and blue tractor, launched by the NFU, was supposed to guarantee both quality and British origin; but I am afraid under European law it cannot do this. Foreign producers can join the scheme as long as they meet UK production criteria.

Maybe I am nave in thinking that the blue and red tractor and its accompanying statement "British Farm Standard" means that the meat comes from these shores; and that I am not buying a bit of French sirloin which has been banned from sale in its own country.

I just don't believe it is right.

This brings me on to my repeated warnings about BSE and the rest of Europe, where their "holier than thou" attitude is showing a few cracks. Despite our experience, the French have persisted to use meat and bone meal in animal rations and even with their half-hearted commitment to detection, there have now been 90 cases confirmed this year.

Sales of beef have slumped 40pc since the scandal came to light a week or two ago, and don't forget the French still have a ban on our beef going into their country. Conversely, I have to tell you that currently Britain imports up to 5,000 tonnes of French beef each year, and there is nothing to stop it and a lot more coming.

It is doubly important that you buy your beef from a reputable source and there is none more so than your local butcher.

On the other side of us, in Ireland, there are even worse problems where, because of public protest, there are no national incineration facilities.

Their Department of Agriculture has admitted that over the past ten years, more than 1,000 suspect animals, half of which have been confirmed BSE cases, have been buried on farms across the country; the present furore arises over a suspect carcass that was buried in County Galway within a mile of a public water scheme serving some 60,000 people.

Furious locals excavated the remains and dumped them back in the farmers' yard. They certainly know how to do things differently.

The third snippet on unfair practices this week was announced on Radio Four this morning when the Government's task force reported that our own MAFF's interpretation of EU legislation was harsher than their European counterparts.

For a Government-sponsored inquiry to admit that does indicate there is something seriously wrong. Our MAFF officials are apparently indulging in "gold plating" the rules that come out of Brussels and it is the farming fraternity that is made to suffer.

In order to get a bit of fair play back into our industry, this New Labour Government set up a Rural Affairs Committee, comprising the most eminent members of the cabinet. This potentially vital rural policy team was launched by no less than Tony Blair himself on November 10, 1999.

According to one member, the committee had its inaugural formal meeting a few months ago but has not been convened before or since. A bit sad really!

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Mercifully, the floods are subsiding and we must all try and help those poor folk who are facing a pretty miserable Christmas period.

At the market, numbers returned to normal and we had a good show of 228 cattle of which 92 were young bulls.

The best continental bulls were hovering from 95-100p/kg with Pat Richardson topping the day with a heavyweight at 108p/kg, and Alice Thompson close behind at 107p/kg.

Michael Harrison had a very good trade for the clean cattle, with an average of over 90p/kg which is 5p above the rest of the nation. Intervention-type steers were making from 95-100p/kg and the best one in this class came from Brian Gray at 111p/kg. The overall highest priced steer was a middleweight from Wilf Dunning at 112p/kg.

Heifers still reign supreme at Malton, and George Marwood led the way at 133p for another show quality animal. At these sort of prices, the market deserves a bit more support from those who haven't been for a month or two. Please give it a bit of serious thought.

There were 797 sheep in the market and the lambs averaged almost 82p/kg, which again is very comparable to elsewhere. The highest price of 95p/kg went to Tim Southwell of Thorpe Bassett closely followed by Bill Scaling at 94p/kg.

We had nearly 300 pigs on the two days this week with an average around 80p/kg. Top price on Monday was 87.5p for Geoff Webster and 88p on Tuesday for H W Ward. It must be worth producers syphoning off a few of their best contract pigs to take advantage of these spot prices.

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Don't forget the farmers market this Saturday, the biggest yet. Opening time 8.30am.