Shropshire farmer pleased with review of fairness in the egg supply chain

The government unveiled a series of planned measures at Rishi Sunak's Farm to Fork Summit last week.

This includes a new Blueprint for Growing the UK Fruit and Vegetable Sector, setting out how industry and government can work together to increase domestic production and drive investment into this valuable sector which is worth more than £4 billion to the UK economy.

The government also announced further action to ensure fairness across the food supply chain, committing to delivering regulations to improve fairness in the fresh produce and egg sectors.

Looking at plans for the poultry sector, Shropshire farmer James Mottershead said: “I’m pleased that Defra’s review of fairness in the egg supply chain is moving forward, with draft regulations for egg contracts set to be developed and a clear intention to work with the NFU and the wider egg sector on data availability and transparency – both of which we asked for.

"We look forward to seeing similar progression in the broiler supply chain review to ensure a fair share of risk and reward for poultry meat growers.

“The government has also listened to our calls on changing egg labelling requirements when mandatory avian influenza housing measures are implemented.

The removal of the 16-week derogation period will be welcomed by producers in England and Scotland who have previously faced significant practical challenges and costs. We continue to urge the Welsh Government to align so that producers in Wales are not disadvantaged.

“It’s also good to see that poultry producers will benefit from the Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare Grant. We now await further detail on how the £22million will be accessed through this offering. We have already highlighted the need for government to look closely at the application process to ensure that poultry producers can access the grant funding.”