AROUND 20 people are likely to be made redundant at Suffolk-based Blacks of Bacton, the family-owned arable and pig farming business based near Stowrmarket.

Following a review of its operations, the company plans to focus production in future on its outdoor-reared division and breeding stock sales from its subsidiary Bacton Pigs Ltd.

The indoor-produced side of the business will be adapted to allow more outdoor-reared production to be undertaken in-house, with the resulting re-structuring expected to lead to the loss of around 20 jobs.

Managing director James Black said that, over the last 20 years, Bacton Pigs had invested heavily in producing higher welfare outdoor reared pigs. More recently, it had also diversified as a breeding company, trading under the DanBred International name across the UK and Ireland.

“It’s become increasingly clear that consumers are much more interested in the provenance of their food and are prepared to pay a premium for certain items such as our outdoor reared pork,” he said.

“Reducing the size of our workforce has been a hard and emotional decision, but we have to develop, grow and diversify our business to ensure the future of the company as a whole.”