By James Mottershead, broiler grower and chair, NFU poultry board
After a quieter season in 2023/24 on the avian influenza front, the disease is hell-bent on making a comeback.
The fact that we are still getting new cases this far into spring is a concern. Whilst the total number of cases this season is significantly lower compared to 2022/23, the number of birds affected is high.
It’s clear that wherever this wretched virus lands, it causes carnage.
I look at the turkey sector which is being badly affected by avian influenza, with some now questioning whether the risk is worth the reward. This hits home for me as it was this sector that gave me the poultry bug.
We bought our poultry farm in 2001. In those days we farmed a good number of sheep, but Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) was rife so my father made the decision to sell the livestock before we got placed into a cull zone. Two days later, dad went to meet our land agent to look round an ex-Sun Valley turkey farm supplying into the Abergavenny plant which had just been bought by Brandon’s Turkeys.
I was only 13 at the time, but I remember it like it was yesterday. In our darkest hour, the poultry sector gave our family hope and a future with a profitable enterprise.
With the worrying news of growing FMD cases across Europe, I’ve found myself reflecting on this time a lot recently. Our sector understands the impact of disease all too well, and I feel for farmers in the livestock and dairy sectors who are understandably very concerned about these latest developments.
Whilst it is treated with the importance it deserves, disease is not the only focus at the NFU.
The poultry sector – being free of subsidies – is successful because it has to follow market demands, however I am concerned about the retail race to 30kg/m2in the broiler sector. It has left the sector in a vulnerable place in terms of supply capacity with the lack of floor space available and planning barriers preventing the expansion needed.
The last thing we want to do is to open up the doors to more imports, some of which is produced to standards that are illegal here. This is something we’re keeping a very close eye on.