By Charles Bourns, broiler grower, Gloucestershire
I understand that the trade deal with the EU is the subject of the moment and on the surface it looks as if it will help our industry, but it assumes there are chicken to trade and this looks problematic at present due to disease in the world. There is AI in Brazil and the EU have banned imports, there is Newcastle Disease and AI in Poland causing supply problems and as I said last month we import £1.5 billion worth of chicken from Poland and the USA also has AI, so where are these imports going to come from?
On top of that we have reduced the stocking on a large number of farms to 30kg. All this, I believe, will mean that the retailers are going to have to change their business model and stop relying on imports, and look to the UK for ALL their chicken. They can – as they did with the egg industry – wait for the shelves to empty, or they can pay more which will allow the extra houses required to be built or refurbished as fast as possible to head this problem off at the pass.
They can offer longer term contracts which will give the banks confidence to lend, as we have just had with our supplier, because to achieve what should be a joint aim we must work together we are all part of the chain and all dependent on one another. I used to work in the feed industry on sales and we were told that until a bag of feed was sold everything else was useless and it is the same in our industry: without the supply of chicken the processing plants cannot run efficiently.
I have just finished judging for the National Egg & Poultry awards and the standard was incredibly high. It showed me how far behind the breed we grow is dropping behind the standard birds’ performance, which is worrying to me. For instance, the average FCR is about 0.28 better, perhaps someone will look into this. When I grew standard birds there was the 400 Club now it is the 470 Club. Also the investment being made is enormous which backs up my point made earlier.
We have a fantastic industry. It just has to be given the chance to fulfil its potential by all. It is disappointing to me that the independent market is the only one to recognise this fact at present. If they can do it why not the rest? Anyway, my son is away so I must go and get the farm ready for the next batch of chicks.