Pig farmers are natural hams

Updated

If you haven't heard,the National Pig Association in England has been taking some rather drastic measures to call attention to the plight of the pork industry. Because feed prices have doubled in the last year, farmers in England are losing more than £20 on every pig that they raise. For whatever reason, pig farmers in England say that they are in no position to raise their prices and want the increased prices on pork and bacon products in supermarkets to go back to farmers.

So what did the pig farmers do, to gain attention to their cause? Well, apparently pig farmers have a good sense of humor -- they're natural hams -- because 30 pig farmers recorded a song called "Stand By Your Ham," a reworking of the famous 1968 classic, "Stand By Your Man," sung by Tammy Wynette. The lyrics -- well, here's a sampling:

Stand by your ham.
Sau-sa-ges, pork and bacon
Keep givin' all the help you can
Stand by your ham.


You can listen to the entire song at PigsAreWorthIt.com

You can't blame these pig farmers for protesting like this. After all, times are tough, and their families count on them to bring home the bacon. (Sorry, I've tried to be good about this story's pig pun possibilities) And clearly they feel that people who run the supermarket industry are swines, and so naturally, if you're a pig farmer with some singing talent, why not record a song? It's a clever ploy -- and definitely not boar-ing. Sure, the grocers may say that the pig farmer's complaints are hogwash, and supermarket employees have families to feed too, and that they'll share these profits when pigs fly. But it's not like these pig farmers are trying to be media hogs...

(Somebody please stop me.)

Geoff Williams is a business journalist and the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America(Rodale). And Williams says his favorite play is Hamlet.

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