Northern Irish pig producers are struggling to sustain their businesses amid soaring feed, energy and red diesel prices, the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) has warned.
Pig producers in the province are questioning whether they will be able to survive the inflation for much longer, the union said in a dire assessment of the situation.
Fears are mounting that farmers there will be forced to reduce pork production if retailers and processors do not step in urgently.
The sector has frequently called for pork prices in-store to reflect the current cost of production to help keep it afloat.
Rising input prices are putting cash flow into the negative, the UFU warned, adding that extra production costs needs to filter up the supply chain to ease the pressure.
The union's president Victor Chestnutt said that the situation facing the pig sector in Northern Ireland was "not sustainable".
“Soaring feed prices combined with eyewatering energy and red diesel increases has many pig producers facing a stark reality.
"Input costs are destroying the viability of pig production in Northern Ireland and our producers are experiencing massive losses like never before.
"We need to be doing everything to protect our food security and local food production here in NI, not standing back watching farm families struggling to survive another day in business."
While consumers may not be pleased about price increases, Mr Chesnutt said it was 'crucial' that input costs filtered up the supply chain to alleviate the pressure.
He warned that if the NI pig sector collapsed because producers were not given the support they needed, consumers would face a huge loss too.
"Local pork products produced to world leading standards will disappear from shop shelves and even imports produced to lower standards will be hard to come by as they are not widely available.
“We need everyone to get behind our pig farmers helping them to ride out one of the most difficult periods they have ever experienced."
