Archive Article: 1999/11/12

12 November 1999

Shelling out… Arable farmers Richard (front) and Charles Street of GE Street and Son, Berwick St James, Wilts get stuck into the farms new enterprise, free-range eggs. This recently commissioned unit houses 8000 birds, but numbers will double next week when a second 55x16m shed is finished. The whole project cost about £300,000, £19 a bird. Eggs, sold to Marks & Spencer, are worth 50p a dozen, down 10p since the spring. "A bit depressing, but still within budget," says Richard. "With the state arable farming is in, we have to do something different."