Poultry Business is delighted to release the first episode of Poultry Today, a brand new podcast. Host Chloe Ryan speaks to turkey producers, Mark Gorton, managing director of traditional Norfolk Poultry and Paul Kelly, managing director of Kelly Turkeys, about the impact of labour shortages on their businesses.
Kelly Turkeys is a family business based in Essex, known for its KellyBronze breed of premium free range turkey, reared in the Essex woodlands, dry plucked and supplied to customers for Christmas. Paul also runs Farmgate Hatcheries, which breeds turkeys and supplies poults to farmers around the country.
Mark Gorton founded Traditional Norfolk Poultry in the 1980s and the business has grown steadily since then. TNP has a large seasonal free-range and organic turkey business, supplying major supermarkets, and also produces free range speciality chickens year-round, including its own exclusive breed, the Norfolk Black. It has its own farms throughout East Anglia, and its processing plant is based in Attleborough in Norfolk.
In a frank discussion both Gorton and Kelly share their thoughts on why Christmas could be cancelled, the frustrations of trying to fill vacancies and why they feel so let down by politicians.
You can listen to the episode here, and it will become available on all major podcast platforms over the coming days.
Poultry Today Podcast: the labour crisis
By Chloe Ryan
Chloe Ryan
Editor of Poultry Business, Chloe has spent the past decade writing about the food industry from farming, through manufacturing, retail and foodservice. When not working, dog walking and reading biographies are her favourite hobbies.