Farmers at sharp end of EU rules on eggs

EGG farmer Martin Morrison has a story which explains the pros and cons of new European Union regulations to improve welfare standards for hens.

In a report today, MPs urge European Commission bosses to act to make sure farmers like Mr Morrision, of Northallerton in North Yorkshire, do not lose out after a huge upgrade of their facilities, amid fears that cheaper eggs produced at lower standards could swamp the market.

He has been producing eggs from caged birds since 1993.

Around 31 million eggs are eaten in the UK each day. Four out of five are currently are produced here.

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Laying hens are housed in cage, barn, or free-range systems. Free-range is the boom area, because shoppers like it and the RSPCA and celebrity chefs argue that access to fields and sunshine is the least we owe a hen. But most free-range farms now are enormous shed-based operations with more or less token access to the outdoors – a long way from the picturebook image of hens scratching around a paddock for worms.

By next year, however, thanks to supermarket pressure, they will account for about half of all UK-produced eggs.

Most of the other half will come from updated “enriched” cages, holding small colonies and providing for more “natural” behaviour.

This is the option Mr Morrison has chosen. He is in the “value eggs” business, which the likes of Tesco and Asda are not going to renounce. And caged systems are most efficient. He also believes caged birds are happier, because they are more easily kept clean, warm and free from infections and aggression by other hens.

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A small proportion of eggs are “barn”, which means indoor free-range, or “organic”, which means free-range plus.

Ironically, the drive for better welfare is meaning bigger and bigger farms to cope with increased overheads.

To justify investment in the new minimum standards for cages, Mr Morrison had to be ready to expand when other farmers dropped out as the 2012 deadline for the new standards approached.

He and his son, Kenneth, started rebuilding three years ago. The last new shed is nearly ready and will give them capacity for 100,000 layers, compared with 40,000 before, but the upgrading of each new bird space has cost around £20-£25.

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Mr Morrison said: “These systems do not lend themselves to small farming. You need a critical mass to cover your fixed costs. We were aware a lot of existing producers were going to call it a day. And we decided people still had to eat.

“I’ve not spent as much ever in my life. I am maxed out, in effect. I only did it when I was sure my son wanted to take on the commitment after coming home from college.

“We now have a space about the size of a Range Rover for every coop of 60 birds, with perches and layout to all the standards.

“It means more running costs as well as the investment. And I do expect protection from cheap imports. Everybody has had since 2001 to prepare for this.

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“However, I am not surprised we are where we are. The EU is all about politics in the end.”

Like many farmers, he would be interested to know if enforcement is as strict in Spain and Poland – his main rivals, he believes – as it is here.

He said: “We have inspectors going around already, checking the facilities, and they are being very pernickety. Some farmers who could not afford new buildings have adapted old ones inside, using imported cages made to fixed sizes, and they are getting objections if they have 870mm of aisle width instead of 900mm.”

He is touching on the age-old argument about British “gold-plating” of EU rules. Farmers here point out that if they or Defra do anything wrong, European Commission auditors will find them out and claw back grant money in fines. They cannot see why the same should not happen everywhere.

A National Farmers’ Union source said: “The difficulty is proving the offence. In this country, the inspectors just arrive in London and call for the books on whatever they want to investigate.”