Egg Farmers Angry

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Colin Sky

1/11/2007 5:45:49 AM

 

Egg farmers angry at expensive cage changesReporter: Emma AlbericiMonday, 8 January, 2007 http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1823235.htmhttp://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1823235.htmPETER CAVE: By 2008, most egg producers aroundAustralia will be required to increase cage sizes from450 square centimetres per bird to 550 squarecentimetres, in an effort to improve conditions forbattery hens.The new law means that farmers will have to buildbigger sheds, sell their businesses, or move to newsites, all of which they say is prohibitivelyexpensive for an industry already in decline.Emma Alberici reports.EMMA ALBERICI: Australia's $300-million a year eggindustry is facing its biggest change in 25 years. Itwill improve conditions for the country's laying hens,but it could send hundreds of farmers to the wall.WARREN STARICK: There used to be 80 producers in SouthAustralia about three, four years ago, and I'd say in2008 we'll probably be down to about 10, at the most.EMMA ALBERICI: By 2008 most Australian farmers will berequired to increase cage sizes from 450 squarecentimetres per bird to 550 square centimetres.South Australian Farmers' Federation poultry sectionchair Warren Starick will stop producing eggs on hisCambrai farm by the end of the year. He says he simplycan't afford to upgrade his equipment to satisfy thenew laws.WARREN STARICK: The investment is literally millionsof dollars, and so that uncertainty's contributed,plus of course what happened when the new legislationwas announced, equity in our farms virtuallydisappeared overnight.The illustration I often give is that imagine if everycar in Australia had to have airbags in three years'time - those cars that didn't have airbags wouldsimply become valueless.EMMA ALBERICI: The RSPCA (Royal Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals)'s chief scientist,Dr Bidda Jones, says farmers have had at least sevenyears to adjust to the new laws.BIDDA JONES: The changes were negotiated back in 2000.The code that is introducing the cage sizes werepublished in 2002.Farmers have known about these changes for a longtime. They agreed to them when negotiations startedover changes to the code, and I have to say that theRSPCA at that time, we were seeking a ban on the useof cages, and the changes that were made were a very,very small concession, and nothing like what we werelooking for.EMMA ALBERICI: Current standards require egg farmersto provide wire mesh cages just 40 centimetres high,with a floor area per bird of 450 square centimetres,roughly the size of a cardboard fruit box.The new laws will give the hens 550 squarecentimetres. Bidda Jones says while it's only a smallgain for the Animal Welfare Lobby, it's a gainnonetheless.BIDDA JONES: What the changes that are coming in willdo, they will allow hens finally, the hens that arestill kept in cages, to stand up fully. Now, theyhaven't been able to do that in the cages that arecurrently being used.EMMA ALBERICI: Mallee egg farmer Warren Starick again.WARREN STARICK: The proposed changes are only marginalimprovements in animal welfare, and that's also makingit difficult for farmers to understand why thesechanges have been forced on them.EMMA ALBERICI: The RSPCA says it will continue itsfight to ban cages altogether.WARREN STARICK: That's the other dilemma we face ofcourse, is that we've gone through all these changes,we have farmers both here and interstate spendingliterally millions of dollars upgrading their farms,and we need … those farms will need at least a 20-yearperiod to recover the cost of those new equipment. AndI mean, if we're going to have this debate and thismoving of the goalposts every five, ten years, it'sgoing to make life very difficult for those people.PETER CAVE: South Australian egg farmer Warren Starickending that report from Emma Alberici.Live Simply So ThatOthers May Simply Live