By Mark Williams, chairman, British Egg Industry Council
What an interesting month November was, both in the UK and wider afield.
We have the return of Donald Trump, soon to be sworn in as the 47th President of the USA, changes of Government and the composition of legislatures across Europe, and of course people processing what the autumn budget on 30 October means for the UK.
Certainly, the UK Government is taking a very different approach on policy ideas to the previous 14 years of Conservative governments – and it would be more than fair to say, a troubling first 90 days for Keir Starmer’s cabinet and the Parliamentary Labour Party.
The strength of anger and feeling of betrayal from the British farming community because of the Autumn Budget is visible from almost every sector – including our own. The Labour Party made no mention of changes the Agricultural Property Relief scheme (APR) in its General Election manifesto and the Prime Minister himself made an address to the NFU farming conference earlier in the year where he promised no such changes would be made. The Chancellor has proposed these changes, regardless, damaging the trust between Government and British farming. HM’s Treasury has been warned of the dire, albeit unintended consequences, not only for the farms that will be impacted – rural communities all over the country, ancillary industries, major supermarket retailers, and the next generation of farmers, not to mention the country’s food security which has been put at risk. We urge the Government to seriously reconsider these changes.
The impact of these changes on the next generation of farmers brings me onto another important point – directly related to the ability to feed our nation is that of labour availability. The Egg and Poultry Industry Conference recently took place in Newport, South Wales, with the theme of ‘futureproofing businesses to thrive’. Professor Trevor Williams, former chief economist at Lloyds Bank, spoke on key trends and policies that shape the economy and markets. He made the point that our ability to grow is being hindered by the size of our workforce. The BEIC has made consistent efforts over the last five years to warn government that labour availability is a threat to our ability to grow, feed the nation, and could threaten farm animal welfare and biosecurity.
Which sadly, brings me onto my final point, on 5 November the first case of H5N5 HPAI in poultry was confirmed in free range layers in the East Riding of Yorkshire and the first case (this AI season) of H5N1 HPAI was confirmed in a small commercial laying flock in Cornwall. We have now lost our country freedom from HPAI with the consequent effect on export trade. Please remember, housing provides a twofold reduction in risk, whereas biosecurity provides a 44 fold reduction, therefore please ensure you keep your guard up.