Food for Thought

Posting by Poultry World editor Richard Allison

One quarter of poultry producers believe they will stop production sometime in the next five years unless business conditions improve. That is the shocking finding from an exclusive survey carried out jointly by Poultry World and NFU.

Everyone recognises that many poultry businesses have been struggling for some time with higher cereal prices, but what is shocking is the scale of the problem and the total lack of confidence looking forward.

There is now a real risk that the sector could lose critical mass with few chick placings.

While there has been much focus on soaring feed costs, the survey also highlighted the mushrooming burden of legislation. Businesses have been hit by a succession of new rules which are adding costs. Most notably, last year’s implementation of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) left many with huge bills and the egg sector now faces costs of new salmonella rules.

It’s no wonder that both egg and meat producers are lacking confidence when they cannot see beyond their current flock in terms of profitability.

Another worrying finding from the survey is the lack of succession with up to 61% of respondents with no successor. On a positive note, this offers a chance for new entrants, but again, a lack of confidence and hurdles, such as planning, stand in their way.

So what needs to happen?

Farmers Weekly is not exactly awash with celebrity news. We did once manage to squeeze in a picture of Madonna (when she bought her Wiltshire estate) and Prince Charles recently wrote an article exclusively for FW readers.

So I was a little surprised to see this headline appear on FWi:

A year of highs and more highs, says Jessica Simpson

I couldn't help wondering what on earth an American singer/actress best known for her role in the remake of the Dukes of Hazzard knows about the UK land market. Then I read the article...

This week is a big one for British farmers because there a three programmes planned which put agricultural production systems and the slaughter process firmly under the spotlight.

Two of the shows start their run tonight. There's Hugh's Chicken Run on Channel 4 at 9pm looking at chicken production and then Kill it, Cook it, Eat it on BBC3 at 10.30pm and both have already got farmers talking on FWiSpace.

On Friday, chef Jamie Oliver will also return to the issue of chicken production with a show called Jamie's Fowl Dinners.

Farmers Weekly editor Jane King has started a new blog to help magazine readers and users of the website to understand better how the Farmers Weekly Group operates and to get a dialogue going to inform editorial decisions.

What’s the first thing you notice when you get to the LAMMA show?

Well, it might be the huge number of vehicles in the car park or the vast array of machinery and equipment on offer from both small and large manufacturers.

But what I noticed first was the number of young faces walking around. Contrary to conventional wisdom it looks as if there are actually a lot of young people in agriculture.

LAMMA is obviously an event that appeals to the young and old(er) alike. And not just people from the UK. Talking to people I’ve already heard of people flying in from Germany and Israel for the event.

Very impressive...

It looks like today could be the big day at LAMMA. I’ve heard several people say that they’ve come today because the weather forecast looks better than for tomorrow. It’s certainly looking good at the moment – no rain!

Let’s just hope if the weather does turn, there’s no repeat of last year when high winds blew a steel-framed marquee across the showground and forced the show to close a couple of hours early.

It is great news that cookery classes are to be made mandatory for secondary school pupils.

The move has mainly been introduced to tackle the growing obseity problem but it will undoubtedly bring wider benefits.

People who know about cooking are much more likely to ask questions about the quality and origin of the food they are buying. They are more likely to start to think about issues such as seasonality and food miles.

This has got be good news for UK producers who can prove that their food is some of the freshest, safest and highest quality in the world. It might even help to put an end to all those surveys which suggest that children think that we grow oranges and pineapples in the UK

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's message about free range egg and chicken production has until now been aimed at consumers and the retailers.

But he hasn't forgotten that one of the biggest consumers of eggs and egg products is the food service sector, recording this video message for Caterer (a magazine/website from the same stable as Farmers Weekly).

So Peter Hain has decided to resign as a result of the furore over donations for his deputy leader campaign.

What is this going to mean for the Cabinet? On the FWiSpace discussion forums someone has already asked whether this could mean that Hilary Benn gets moved on.

Which subject is currently dominating the FWiSpace discussion forums? Is it bluetongue, is it single farm payments, is it rising input costs?

No.

The US elections. Who'd have thought?

I've mentioned before that TV production companies seem to have a fascination with farmers. And it seems that nothing has changed.

Channel 4's How to Look Good Naked is on the hunt again.

David Richardson has his doubts about how well DEFRA spends his money after it emerged that DEFRA has shelled out £11,000 on posters of its ministerial team over the past five years.

But MP Mark Hoban, who asked the question originally, has unearthed some even more interesting facts.

Asked what DEFRA-branded products had been procured over the past five years, the department was forced to admit to 20,000 travel wallets, 20,000 pens and...1000 travel toothbrush sets.