By Gary Ford, chief executive, British Egg Industry Council
Now that the Labour Government and new Defra Ministerial team are starting to get their feet under the table we need urgent action on legislation to pass, into law, the lifting of the 16 week housing order derogation. This was agreed by the previous administration however, an early General Election meant that there was insufficient Parliamentary time to pass the necessary legislation. Not wishing to unsettle anyone but with confirmation of AI in a commercial flock in Germany this is a timely reminder of the risk posed to our sector. It is encouraging and very welcome that the Welsh Government, under Huw Irranca-Davies, are looking at the 16 week derogation – all producers and packers need the Welsh to follow England, Scotland and Northern Ireland otherwise there is a real risk of confusion and chaos in the event that the next Housing Order exceeds 16 weeks in Wales.
Talking about the new Defra Ministerial teams it is encouraging that the PM has ‘stood on’ and appointed his Shadow team of Steve Reed and Daniel Zeichner. We met Steve Reed back in March to press the case for the egg sector and have had ongoing dialogue with Daniel Zeichner. Daniel has always been keen to engage and explore solutions to the challenges that we face which can only bode well now that he is in Government and being given an opportunity to put into action what was said when in opposition – ‘talk the talk now walk the walk’ as you might say.
We continue to meet and engage with the RSPCA over their new standards (delayed until 1 February 2025). I hope that we can reach an agreeable outcome as I firmly believe that the sector is stronger working alongside the RSPCA. Finally, we have published our ADAS commissioned report into soil and water samples within the Wye and Usk catchment areas. ADAS concluded that neither the soil samples nor the water samples showed any obvious indication of a link between water quality and range areas. This is good news but there is work to be done on manure management going forward.