Vion looking for quality, not quantity

Scotland’s latest recruits to broiler production for Vion have just come on-stream, despite the company indicating that it is now curtailing its expansion plans.

Sandy Stuart and his daughter Emma, who farm Mains of Duncrub at Dunning in Perthshire, have entered the market with buildings that meet the highest welfare specifications after designing and building the broiler houses themselves.

The Stuarts, who run an agricultural buildings company, say the diversification came about because the 120-acre arable farm bought by the family 10 years ago was not financially viable. Their solution was to built two new broiler sheds housing 40,000 birds each on a greenfield site on the farm.

“At one time this farm could support four families, but today it can’t support one,” said Mr Stuart. “We wanted to stay in farming and saw broiler production as a means of making it a viable enterprise.

“We wanted to enter the business at the highest possible standard so we designed and built these sheds after looking at the most modern materials and systems available. We also visited several Vion units to see the broiler crop at every stage of production in order to learn the basics and have employed a poultry manager who knows the business inside out.”

Mr Stuart admitted that obtaining planning for the two 108m x22m sheds hadn’t been straightforward, but problems with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency had been minimal. The new sheds have high levels of insulation and incorporate windows to meet Freedom Foods standards.

David Montgomerie, Vion’s Scottish Broiler Grow Out manager, explained that modern facilities like these were precisely the way the company wanted to develop. “This is the way chickens should be reared, with plenty of space and light,” he said.

But company spokesman Robert Smith has indicated that upgrading current production systems to meet higher welfare standards is now taking priority over any further expansion plans at Vion. The company is not encouraging new contract growers for the foreseeable future.

“All links in the supply chain need to be aware of changing demands in the market,” he said. “We are communicating these to external and contract growers and will be revealing investment plans shortly.”