10 February 2017:
What we have been doing:
Clarifying Defra’s interpretation of Commission Regulations
- We have been working closely with Defra to clarify their interpretation of the Commission Regulations on poultry meat (543/2008) and egg (589/2008) marketing. The NFU’s legal team have been examining these and we have sought Counsel advice.
Lobbying in Europe
- There has been much activity going on in our Brussels office and our colleagues have been lobbying MEPs and Commission officials. On Monday 30 January MEPs on the Agriculture Committee met with Commissioner Hogan to discuss the situation, the NFU’s Brussels office supplied MEPs with a briefing in advance and also met with several of them beforehand to ensure they were fully informed on the matter.
- On Tuesday 31 January, UK Farming Union Presidents held discussions with MEPs on the Agriculture Committee urging them to extend the derogation. Although we were disappointed this week when Commissioner Hogan sent a letter to the Dutch Government declining their call for an extension to the derogation, we continue to push the importance of this matter in Brussels.
- Today Chief Poultry Advisor Gary Ford will take a group of free range producers over to Brussels to ensure that Commission officials can hear first-hand the impact of the loss of free range status on individual businesses.
Lobbying in the UK
- Chief Poultry Advisor Gary Ford met with Lord Gardiner on 19 January to discuss industry concerns. An outcome of this meeting was that Defra backed our asks to the European Commission for an extension to the derogation
- NFU President Meurig Raymond has spoken with Senior Minsters on several occasions over the past few weeks to impress the gravity of member concerns.
- The NFU’s poultry team sit on Defra’s AI Core group with a number of other industry bodies; we are also included in their Birdtable meetings. This means that we have an open dialogue with key decision-makers and are able to raise member concerns directly with Defra
- We continue to work closely with our retail contacts; this week alone we have held conference calls with Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Tesco, urging them to support our free range members who find themselves in Higher Risk Areas.
- Last week NFU President Meurig Raymond wrote to the CEO’s of the top ten retailers urging them to continue to support our free range producers.
Keeping members informed
- We have created the AI hub on NFUonline as a one-stop-shop for the latest news and information
- Our member text messaging service ensures that members are kept up to date with key information
Informing a wider audience
- We listened to member concerns about backyard poultry keepers and produced an infographic to raise awareness of the housing order. This has been disseminated far and wide, and it received a great response on social media.
- Various NFU representatives have also given numerous media interviews both locally and nationally to help support the industry and to ensure continued public support.
It is important to stress that even for those producers who are not within the HRAs, these amendments to the Prevention Zone will not be a return to business as usual. It is absolutely vital that any producer wishing to allow their poultry access to the range as of 28 February ensures that they are fully compliant with the Prevention Zone requirements. The consequences breaching Prevention Zone regulations are likely to be severe, either prosecution or an undisclosed fine. We recommend that all actions that producers take in preparation for their birds to be given range access on 28 February are well documented so that they may provide evidence of compliance if necessary. For example, this would include evidence of a risk assessment undertaken in conjunction with a local vet.