Recently in Egg production Category

Producers who want to supply the London 2012 Olympic Games and companies which win Olympic contracts need to register on CompeteFor

The games will be Red Tractor Assured and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games is expected to announce shortly which firms have won catering contracts, says BPEX.

LOCOG uses CompeteFor as a brokerage service to match buyers with potential suppliers and to enable businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to the games and other large public and private sector buying organisations. Registration is free.

49m litres of milk (17m of it organic)..192,000t of potatoes…5.2m heads of lettuce…91m free range eggs a year…these are just a few examples of the annual volumes of British and Irish produce being used by McDonalds. Given the company’s commitment to the London Olympic Games, these numbers can only grow.

The chain is also spreading the word about how food is produced by holding open days for the public at some of its supplier farms, with the farming businesses involved sometimes devoting several days to this role. Top honours must go to a Derbyshire milk producer who reluctantly rescheduled his syndicate’s first day’s shooting to host an open day this week.

Earlier this year I took part in a focus group with Andersons farm business consultants, as part of their research into a study they were doing for DEFRA.

That study - on the impacts of the recession on agriculture - has now been published and contains many pertinent observations.

On balance, it says, there has been little overall negative impact on agriculture from the changing conditions in the wider economy.

“In fact, the greatest effect so far, albeit indirect, has been a positive one as the recession has prompted a realignment of exchange rates that has greatly benefitted UK farming.”

The report goes on to highlight the reduction in borrowing charges, the lower cost of farm inputs and the benefits for businesses that have invested in holiday lets from the increased number of people who have holidayed in the UK...

Predicting grain prices is a mug’s game.

A month ago, this blog was predicting a “subdued trade in 2010/11”, despite new figures from the US department of agriculture pointing to lower wheat and maize plantings.

A week later, as the first hosepipe ban came in and wheat prices approached £110/t ex-farm, I then suggested cereal producers could be looking at “a sell opportunity” on the grounds that world stocks were still plentiful and price rises might not last.

Those comments look slightly ridiculous now that global wheat markets have posted the biggest monthly rise for almost four decades on the back of continuing drought in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

London futures prices have climbed 50% since the beginning of July and UK ex-farm wheat prices now stand at nearer £140/t spot...

The slump in the wholesale egg market shows no signs of abating and, if anything, is getting worse.

One producer packer has just described to me how the price of medium eggs on the open market has gone from about £1/doz in the spring to 80p, to 60p and, last week, to just 40p/doz. He fears that this week it will be down to 30p/doz.

There is a surplus of eggs and that surplus, it seems, is going round and round in circles looking for a home.

Initially the egg breakers were able to take some of the surplus off the market and exports also helped relieve the pressure, but these markets are now saturated.

While the actual surplus is relatively small compared with the total egg market, buyers have the upper hand and prices are being squeezed. Even the supermarkets are getting in on the act, with special promotions to be found in some retail outlets...