Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, joined local pig farmers outside Downing Street today to raise awareness of a growing crisis facing the UK pig farming industry and call on supermarkets to pay a fair price for high welfare British bacon.Farmers’ costs have sky-rocketed as the price of the wheat they feed their pigs has nearly doubled in the last five months. However, supermarkets aren’t willing to pay more for high welfare British pigs and so farmers now lose a crippling average of £21 on every pig they produce.Neil Parish, a former farmer and Member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, said: “Pig farming makes a valuable economic and social contribution to Devon including jobs for local people. My constituents should not be denied the opportunity to buy high welfare local British pork, and so I am calling on supermarkets today to pay a fair price to our farmers.”Local farmer Lester Bowker said: “Thousands of people across the country have signed the petition at pigsareworthit.com calling on supermarkets to pay a fair price for our pigs. The UK has the highest standards of animal welfare and people like to know where their meat is coming from and that is has been produced under humane and caring conditions. We have shared some of our personal stories on the Pigs Are Still Worth It website - http://www.pigsareworthit.com”Hundreds of pig producers today met MPs outside Downing Street and presented a petition to the Prime Minister signed by several thousand people. The petition calls on the Government to put pressure on supermarkets that refuse to pay farmers a fair price for the pigs they produce. The rally was part of the national Pigs Are Still Worth It! Campaign organised by the National Pig Association, which represents pig famers and producers. General Manager of the National Pig Association, Barney Kay said, “British supermarkets are making huge profits and need to wake up to the threat the industry faces. They cannot keep paying farmers such a low price whilst creaming off such large profits for themselves. British pig farmers observe some of the highest standards of animal welfare in the world - something they are proud of and will not compromise on. Some supermarkets are still buying cheaper imports produced to much lower welfare standards, despite previous commitments not to do so.”An Early Day Motion has been tabled in Parliament calling on MPs to support the farmers and force the supermarkets to take action. For further information and to sign the campaign petition visit: http://www.pigsareworthit.com/register.asp