That being the reaction of 'ethical organic farmer' Keith Barnett (in reality, an ex-computer consultant) on being told that he was under investigation for the conditions on his farm, if the term 'farm' can be used to describe
the squalid collection of ramshackle pens and half-collapsed huts...
Touring the farmers' markets, the owners of the Happy Pig Company trade on a growing consumer demand for meat from animals reared with kindness.
They charge £35 for a few 'organic' chops and pork joints in a pack bearing their logo of a smiling cartoon pig leaning on a wall.
They boast that the 'top quality, additive-free' pork comes from pampered pigs living free-range in a field close to the sea, eating 'only natural foods'.
Well, that last was certainly true. They were found eating the dead bodies of their companions, as a result of starvation. It doesn't get more natural than that!
The Animal Health agency and East Sussex county council confirmed they were investigating.
I wonder how many more of these enterprises are out there, cashing in on the demand for 'ethical organic farming', and thereby giving a bad name to real farmer who know what they are doing?
Like an unfunny version of harry Enfield's 'I saw you coming' sketches, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't look any more squalid than most small farms. I think the money quote is: Mr Barnett, of Pevensey, East Sussex, was a computer consultant for councils, hospitals and the Bank of England before stress drove him to seek an easier life. in other words, it was't so much that it was a scam, the guy is bone idle.
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