In January, Poultry Business and the British Poultry Council held a webinar, sponsored by Elanco, focused on the future of land use in poultry production.
The title of the webinar was ‘What if we prioritised space over land, and vice versa?’ and was about balancing efficient food production with the need to protect our land for future generations.
One of the big challenges in poultry at the moment is the shift to 30kg stocking density in broilers, and in eggs, the move towards cage free systems. These transitions require big changes to buildings and land use.
Land use is a big political hot potato at the moment, with post-Brexit subsidies now focussed on payments linked to environmental protection rather than the area of land farmed.
This means lots of farmers are changing the way they use their land, and in addition are coming under more scrutiny than ever before over issues such as water quality in river catchments.
Expert panel
The hour-long session, moderated by Chloe Ryan, editor of Poultry Business magazine, featured insights from a panel of experts:
- Justin Coleman (poultry business unit director at Pilgrim’s Europe Moy Park) emphasised the importance of aligning policy, food security, and environmental responsibility.
- Emma Mingo (sales manager at Powell and Co Construction) discussed the practical challenges and opportunities in poultry housing.
- Ian Pick (planning consultant at Harrison Pick) highlighted the ‘postcode lottery’ effect on planning permission.
- Gary Ford (head of strategy and producer engagement at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association) explored the transition to cage-free.
Key points of discussion included balancing productivity with stewardship, challenges with the current planning system, and addressing the challenges of a sustainable future. An interactive Q&A session allowed attendees to engage directly with the panel.
The shift to 30kg
One of the biggest changes over the past year has been the shift towards lower stocking density broiler production.
Justin Coleman addressed the topic of how well equipped the industry is to build the units it needs to cope with this 20% reduction in stocking density.
“I’m very pro 30kg,” said Justin Coleman. “But we have a complete lack of alignment between policy, betterment, waste, the use of science to solve the problem.”
The need for 20% more growing space equates to an extra 600 to 1,000 sheds nationwide, said Coleman.
On a scale of one to 10, the industry is at a two, added Coleman, in terms of how well equipped it currently is to manage the need for more growing space for broilers. “As an industry we have demonstrated as a non-CAP funded sector we can solve our own problems, but we have a lack of alignment about how to solve this problem.”
Off-shoring production
Different government departments were working at cross purposes, he said, making it very difficult to develop new units.
“What we will ultimately end up doing if we don’t draw the alignment between government and industry is we will end up off-shoring our production. That 20% will come from elsewhere, and we will slowly cut our own throats as a sector.”
Coleman said there was demand for poultrymeat that equated to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 2.5%. “To knock off our production when we are around 50% of the protein aisle would feel like an economic disaster and a food security challenge.”
While there was a clear need to grow production in line with demand in order to avoid off-shoring production, Coleman emphasised the need to do so in an environmentally responsible way. “I don’t think growth should be at any cost,” he said. “As a sector we are focussed on growing in an environmentally sustainable way, but we need to show intensive animal agriculture can solve its ammonia issues, can solve its carbon issues, and grow at the same time.
Responsible growth
“This is a call to grow responsibly using the right tech, the right ammonia science, the right view of the circular economy, anaerobic digestion and the way we construct poultry housing.”
Emma Mingo said since the 30kg announcements were made by retailers at the start of last year, there had been a big increase in demand for new poultry units.
Due to uncertainty over the past few years both politically and due to the covid pandemic, many people “sat on planning the past two years”, said Mingo.
“But with the decrease in stocking, those guys who have had planning, have now gone ahead. So yes, this year is extremely busy, next year will be busy.”
Cage free commitments
Gary Ford gave an overview of how the transition to cage-free systems in the egg industry has resulted in big investments in land and infrastructure, and how that will affect land use in the coming years.
“Back in 2016 the retailers stocking colony eggs made a commitment that by 2025 they would transition on a voluntary basis to cage free,” he said. “2025 seemed like a long way off them.”
While not all of them have fully achieved their aim, many have, and have done so partly by investing in barn as a system of production. “We have about 2.5 million layers in barn about 6-7% of total production, and there are about 7m or 19-20% in enriched colony cages,” explained Ford.
Some of the retailers have clarified the goal is by the end of 2025 and there is a slight increase in planning applications going in this year, he added.
Tight margins
Ford said that compared to other proteins, egg production was extremely efficient in terms of land use.
“Whether measured on greenhouse gas emissions or land use, egg production far more efficient that other animal proteins or some plant foods such as rice or bananas. So, we can be very proud of the efficient use of land.”
Ford said he was encouraged by the news from Steve Reed, secretary of state at Defra, who said at the Oxford Farming Conference that the government would reform planning permission to stimulate growth, specifically citing the poultry industry as a sector that would benefit. “We very much welcome that, whether it is meeting the transition to cage free or replacing the older sheds in our estate,” said Ford. “The free-range sector is a modern enterprise. But nonetheless we have some sheds from the 1970s and early 80s and we do need investment in new sheds to be more productive.”
Planning issues
Another important factor in land use is understanding how planning law has changed in line with increasing awareness and consideration about the environment.
Ian Pick summarised one of the challenges: planning rules require all livestock planning applications to consider ammonia impacts on the surrounding area, where they include a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) or a special area of conservation (SAC). Thresholds were first introduced in 2010 and have been tightened several times since by Natural England.
One major difficulty to navigate is the fact that since 2018, the rules laid out by the Environment Agency and Natural England have diverged.
“Natural England have moved away from the Environment Agency’s thresholds and introduced their own and they are quite significantly lower than the permit thresholds,” said Ian Pick. “Nobody is on the same page.
“Natural England are a legal statutory consultee so what they say has a big impact. So if they object, your application will be refused. They are pretty well consistently negative in the southwest of the country.”
The standards as of May 2022, set out in Natural England’s May 2022 interim guidance on air quality risk assessment, are that livestock businesses should contribute no more than 1% of the acceptable ammonia levels for the sustainable maintenance of any given area, in combination with any other development within 10km. Prior to 2022, the threshold was 4%, and before than 20%.
These rules state that it is distance from an SSSI that matters. “It is a postcode lottery,” said Pick. “The Yorkshire Wolds and Lincolnshire are pretty devoid of SSSIs. Norfolk is stuffed with chickens, but it also has a lot of SSSIs and ammonia sensitive sites. So, in the historically dense areas for poultry planning is far more difficult. There is a very geographical divide to what is going on at the moment,” said Pick.
Standstill
The planning process for poultry businesses has pretty much come to a standstill now in Northern Ireland, said Coleman.
“Northern Ireland is at the sharp end of this,” said Coleman. “The climate change laws passed in 2019, were either quite progressive or quite challenging depending on where you stand. We can’t get cut through.”
Coleman said that even with the bulk of litter being disposed of responsibly, applications are being refused because the system does not differentiate between different livestock species.
“I think we will continue to have downward pressure on our ability to supply eggs and poultrymeat in the volumes our market requires.
“I think this is a highly responsible sector. Even with the demonstrable independent science around ammonia reduction, be it through litter management or anerobic digestion, the answer is no.”
Even applications that demonstrate ‘betterment’ – ie an improvement in environmental impacts than the existing assets are being refused.
“It stems from a distinct lack of leadership about what food security looks like.”
Questions from the audience
The panel then took questions from the audience. Richard Griffiths of the British Poultry Council asked about Steve Reed’s pledge to reform planning, and asked how the industry could help move food security up the national agenda.
Pick did not express much optimism. “What Steve Reed said was pretty generic,” he said. “There is going to be a reform, they are going to ease the process, but at the moment we know nothing more than that. He is saying the right things but whether it comes to fruition is another matter.”
Ford said pushing food security up the agenda was about classic lobbying. “It is evidence based lobbying with government and civil servants and MPs,” he said. “I am great advocate of getting MPs and civil servants out on farm, so we can bring the argument to life, rather than being distant.
“It is about using evidence, putting forward positive solutions, not moaning woe is me, but showing what can government positively do. Then it is repeating it. Reinforce that message in a timely fashion. Be persistent in our asks.”
Nigel Joice, a broiler grower, from Uphouse Farm in Norfolk asked about planning applications where the total number of birds was not being increased, nor were there increased vehicle movements or increased ammonia, but an additional shed was required to accommodate birds kept at a lower stocking density. How difficult were such applications, he asked?
Pick said this kind of project was generating huge amounts of work for his business. “In the main those applications are going through the system,” he said. But an important caveat was that often the council required the site to commit to stocking at 30kg per square metre as part of the planning requirements. “So, if you have a 200,000 bird site and you have four sheds, and want five sheds, the council are tying that up to 30kg. So, if for any reason you wanted to revert back to 34kg or 38kg you couldn’t without a new planning application.”
The group was then asked what needs to happen to improve the planning system?
“The problem with the planning system is it is too inconsistent,” said Pick. “It depends which local authority you are in that determines how long the application will take. We need to be aligned. We need a proper set of environmental rules, environmental targets that are achievable and we can present schemes that can comply.”
Coleman said the primary challenge was ammonia, and the importance of separating the work being done by the poultry industry compared to other livestock species.
“It is about how we link environmental responsibility and how we manage poultry litter. And then what does the post farm gate waste stream look like.
“Poultry is progressive in reducing ammonia, but that national ammonia is then credited into another space. So what we are calling for is a more nuanced speciated view.
“How that gets linked between the department of economy, department of environment, infrastructure and food security is probably not crystal clear at the moment.”
The second webinar in our series is The Cost of Food Waste
Food waste is more than just what’s left uneaten. It represents wasted energy, resource, and human effort across every stage of the supply chain. From farms to factories, from transport to tables, from emissions to overflowing landfills, food waste represents a systemic inefficiency with profound consequences.
It will be moderated by Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the BPC and it is being held on 6 March at 10.30.