By James Mottershead, NFU poultry board chair
It’s been a busy few weeks to say the least. On top of our first thin at home, we’ve just concluded the NFU’s annual conference. With the event being one day rather than two, the breakout sessions were turned into fringe events the week before which went down really well.
The panel included Gian Luca Bagnara, Copa Cogeca Chair of the Poultry and Eggs Working Party, Rebecca Tonks, CEO of St Ewe Free Range Eggs, and myself, chaired by our wonderful chief poultry adviser Aimee Mahony. We covered a range of topics, from AI vaccination and the need for nationwide housing, to innovation and challenges around planning.
I very much enjoyed getting straight down to business answering the questions put to us, rather than leading with a speech! I’ll be interested to hear the views of those who joined the discussion about how it runs next year.
It was also good to get over to Brussels a few weeks ago to attend the Copa Cogeca working party for poultry – it’s clear we’re not the only ones with challenges around diseases, legislation and trade deals.
As well as AI and an outbreak of Newcastle’s disease in Poland, our European colleagues have the prospect of a broiler welfare directive review, new regulations around the welfare of animals in transit and double legged catching, and the upcoming Mercosur free trade agreement with Brazil which could soon see the importing of zero-tariff Brazilian chicken. Needless to say they have a lot to be worried about.
Back at home, the focus is firmly on AI and the situation is serious. I cannot believe that nationwide housing measures still haven’t been implemented. While we are seeing hotspot areas, this disease is landing in every part of the country.
We need to remember the people at the coalface of this – our farming colleagues. I remember former NFU President Minette Batters saying, at the bottom of every farm drive is a farm and a farming family. It’s heart-breaking to know that this disease is putting so many farming families through sheer hell. All we can do is look out for each other.
I’m also worried what it means for the poultry sector going forward with all the interruptions and consequences that AI bring. Will the Treasury’s Spending Review later in the summer include a robust compensation package? What will AI insurance look like in the future, now that only one insurance broker is in the market?
What I do know is that the delayed rollout of nationwide housing measures does nothing to give anyone any confidence that Defra is on top of this. This is a top priority for the NFU’s poultry board, and we will do what we can to ensure that lessons are learnt from the handling of the 2024/2025 outbreak.