Pig and Poultry Fair 2008

The 2008 British Pig and Poultry Fair will take place at Stoneleigh Park on 13th-14th May. Expectations are higher than ever this year, following the announcement of a raft of changes being introduced to widen the scope of the event and make it more relevant than ever to the needs of today's industry.

As always, the Fair will give producers from across the country a chance to meet up in comfortable surroundings, in a congenial environment where they can spend time discussing common interests and exchanging views on recent developments within the industry. But whilst previous Fairs have been predominately attended by producers and their immediate suppliers, the organisers of the 2008 Fair have recognised that producers can no longer operate in isolation from the rest of the supply chain. There has to be understanding and co-operation up and down the food chain; and this year's event, sponsored by leading monogastric nutrition company ABN, will bring together producers, suppliers, processors, food service representatives, retailers and other members of that chain.

INCLUSIVE APPROACH

This inclusive approach means that the range of exhibitors will be expanded to involve suppliers of processing, packaging, marketing and retail solutions alongside industry services such as nutrition, health and breeding. In total, more than 250 exhibitors are expected to attend. Improvements have been made to the layout in the exhibition hall, and every effort has been made to ensure that exhibitors are positioned in locations that suit their products and services.

The Fair prides itself on providing quality technical information for producers, and for the first time this year it will feature dedicated pig and poultry Forums in a new, purpose-built theatre. The Forum programme will cover key issues affecting producers, bringing industry leaders to the platform and providing unique opportunities for debate. In addition, a varied programme of workshops has been arranged. These one-hour sessions will cater for smaller groups. Forum seminars and workshops will run concurrently, but many of the sessions are being repeated on the two days to give delegates the opportunity to attend all those that are of particular interest to them. Throughout the seminars and workshops there will be advice and information of interest to the smaller-scale producers as well as larger ones.

Reflecting the organisers' policy of bringing together leading figures from different areas of the supply chain, Forum speakers will include representatives from Noble Foods, ABN, Cranswick Food Group, Tesco, the Environment Agency, BPEX and BEIC, as well as producers from both the poultry and the pig sectors. Topics have been carefully selected to interest delegates from both sectors, and the organisers have not shied away from tabling the burning issues of the day.

FORUM TOPICS INCLUDE ...

Spotlight on Feed

Both days will start with a headline debate looking at one of the biggest economic issues that pig and poultry producers are facing today. The topic under the spotlight is Feed, and we can look forward to a spirited exchange of views between the different links in the supply chain. On Tuesday, James Hook from PD Hook, Alan Murphy from ABN, and Adam Couch from Cranswick Food Group will be amongst those taking part in 'The Great Feed Debate'. Topics on the agenda include grain prices and risk management, and industry experts will help producers understand the volatility of the world feed market and how rising food prices affect consumer behaviour. On Wednesday, the 'debate' format will be replaced by a 'Producer feed question-and-answer session', with panellists including a poultry producer, a pig producer, Robin Tapper of the NFU, and representatives of Frontier and ABN. Robin Tapper will speak about the industry's need to 'focus on how it can successfully bridge the gap between the massive price increases in animal feed and energy and the lower retail price inflation'; the answer, he suggests, 'could be through establishing an integrated food supply chain.' Again, we can expect some searching questions to be put to the panel as delegates raise their legitimate concerns over increased operating costs and seek to clarify issues that the industry has been grappling with for some time now.

Regulations and Trends

The second Forum session each day will give all delegates an opportunity to hear more about IPPC from two representatives of the Environment Agency, Selena Randall and Rob Robinson. Their presentation is entitled 'IPPC – what to do now you have your permit'. Pollution control is an important and potentially complex subject, and the more we know about it, the better prepared we will be to ensure that we do not inadvertently fall foul of legislation.

Both afternoons begin with a presentation by Nigel Penlington of BPEX, whose topic, NVZ, will be of interest to pig producers. Following Nigel's slot, a panel of supply chain partners will take the stage to introduce another subject that affects every producer, no matter what sector they are in. Andrew Carter from Tesco, Finn Cottle and Rob Newell Newell from Noble Foods and Sue Corning from PIC will speak on 'Consumer trends and the future of the industry'. Their predictions of what consumers will be looking for in the future might give producers ideas on how to develop their businesses in new directions to meet consumer demand.

Focus on Poultry

Free Range producers will not want to miss the final Forum session each day, when Mark Williams will speak on 'Legislation and the outlook for laying hen housing'. Mark will explain where we are up to in terms of both the legislation and market positioning of the Free Range, Barn, Organic and Cage sectors. In addition, he will talk about the outlook towards 2012 and beyond, and the practicalities of the legislative timescale. Mark will be joined on Tuesday by producer Chris Kirkwood, and on Wednesday by Andrew Joret from Noble Foods. Chris farms 900 acres on heavy boulder clay in East Yorkshire, where he grows continuous feed wheat. He has been involved in egg production and marketing for 40 years, and became involved in the development of the New Enriched Colony System a number of years ago. Having progressed through the various production systems, from Free Range, deep litter/barn and battery cages outside to battery cage inside, he is well placed to contribute to the scheduled discussion on 'The Enriched Colony versus Conventional Cages'. Chris takes the view that "the enriched colony system will provide the most environmentally-friendly and welfare-friendly egg for the value pack from the end of 2011, when the cage is finished as far as the industry is concerned."

WORKSHOP TOPICS INCLUDE ...

Poultry-specific workshops

Two poultry-specific workshops will be run each day. Free Range producers looking for pointers on health and welfare may wish to attend the midday slot, which is a workshop on 'Farm health planning for poultry producers', presented on Tuesday by BPC Vet Daniel Parker and on Wednesday by Michael Clark of Minister Vets. This will be immediately followed at one o'clock by Martin Gorton from Traditional Norfolk Poultry and egg producer Patrick Bournes speaking about 'New opportunities in the poultry sector'.

Planning Permission workshop

Workshops likely to have cross-sector appeal are the 10 o'clock session which looks at 'Planning permission', and the afternoon session on 'Muck matters – profiting from organic manures'. Planning permission is an intricate subject, but listening carefully to the experts can lead to a clearer understanding of current regulations and how they should be interpreted. This workshop will be led by planning consultant David Glasson. At 2pm, Derek Knight from the England Catchment Sensitive Farming D