A group of local women, who call themselves Ladies in Pigs, are working to promote the pork industry.

Whether delighting people with their recipe for roast belly pork with rhubarb compote or lecturing on the importance of buying British, Ladies in Pigs, also known as LIPS, aim to promote everything associated with the "horizontal human".

However, far from being a group of women who happily spend their week up to their eyeballs in pig guts and trotters, LIPS was established in 1991 to help promote British farming, and particularly the flagging pork industry.

Former Kings Langley pig farmer and chairman of LIPS, Jane Conder, said: "We are supporting the environment, we are supporting the food markets, we are supporting the British countryside and we are supporting the local village.

"So we support far more than just the British pig, we support the British countryside as a whole."

Jane and her husband Ken moved to Kings Langley in 1972, when Ken was appointed manger of the old Ovaltine farm in Bedmond Road.

Ken remained as manager until 1982, when he took over the farm, and built up a heard of more than 850 pigs over the next 16 years.

However, as with many pig farmers, the couple found the battle against rising costs of producing pork was becoming futile.

Since 2000, British farmers have to adhere to stringent Government regulations, meaning all pigs have to be free-range and fed specific foods. However, farmers in Europe have no such restrictions, meaning they can produce animals for much less money.

"A lot of pork is imported," explained Jane, of Notley Farm, Kings Langley.

"And because foreign farmers don't have the same controls our farmers have, you don't know what has been put in it."

With competitors from the continent undercutting them, Jane and Ken sold their pig herd two years ago, with their only regret being they didn't do it sooner.

"There are an awful lot of farmers in this country that are earning less than the minimum wage, and that is not healthy," said Jane.

"We have an absolutely brilliant pig industry in this country which is under threat all the time from inferior products coming in from abroad."

Jane, and the other 150 members of LIPS scattered across the UK, are all intent on promoting British agriculture.

The group encourage people to only buy British meat carrying the Quality Standard Mark and promote pork by attending agricultural shows and cooking British sausages outside supermarkets.

The group now sells recipe books detailing every conceivable way of cooking pork, while giving cooking workshops at Women's Institute meetings.

The ladies hope to soon start visiting schools across the country.

Jane added: "We need to keep the British pig industry going.

"If you go to France, they promote their cheese, but go to a British supermarket and British meat is there almost as an excuse.

"We live in Britain so let's promote our own food."