Is free range coming to a halt
There is growing evidence that the threat of avian influenza is bringing free range expansion to a halt.
Dozens of would-be producers are rethinking plans of starting up the new units which will be needed to meet growing demand for free range eggs. And some simply cannot get the finance.
Darren Renshaw was hoping 2006 would be the year that he fulfilled his long-held ambition of having his own free range hens. He first got a taste for the free range lifestyle when he started work for BFREPA member Roger Hosking 14 years ago, although he now finds himself fully occupied as an arrest referral officer helping offenders who have drug problems.
Free range farming may be a far cry from this but Darren’s ambition has the full support of his wife Joy and they’ve now built up sufficient equity in the family home to act as a deposit against the cost of a piece of land and the erection of an 8000 bird unit.
“I’ve spent the last few months drawing up a business plan, searching for land and talking to packers, planners and the bank manager. Having found a suitable piece of land I went bank to the bank only to be told the offer of finance was no longer there.”
The high street bank told 32-years old Darren that they were no longer lending money for new poultry ventures in light of the uncertainty surrounding avian influenza.
“They were also concerned about how land values could be affected, which would have been their main security,” said a disappointed Darren, whose plans are now firmly on the backburner.
“If I was to put my heart in front of my head I would push on and try and find another source of finance but with two young children to think of, the risk is too great. We simply cannot afford to lose everything we have got in the pursuit of a dream. We’ll have another look at the project if and when the cloud of avian influenza has been lifted.”
The reluctance of banks to now fund stand-alone poultry operations is not uncommon. Another major lender told the Ranger that it would only finance poultry enterprises if the borrower could prove that loan repayments—or at the very minimum, interest charges—could be met from an income stream other than poultry.
But it is not just the raising of finance where the spectre of bird flu is holding back expansion in the free range sector. The risk of humans being infected by the H5N1 virus is now being used to oppose planning applications for poultry buildings.
The Ranger has already reported that opponents of Glenrath Farms’ plans to build a 350,000 bird free range enterprise in Scotland have raised concerns with the planners about the risk to local inhabitants from AI. But it is not just developments on this scale that are causing anxieties with local residents.
BFREPA member Nigel Williams has been granted conditional planning permission by his local council for three buildings which will house 18,000 organic birds. But now local villagers are threatening to go to the High Court to prevent the development going ahead near the village of Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire.
The opponents’ main concern is the threat of avian influenza and lawyers representing the villagers say they will now seek a judicial review. The proposed site is flanked by public footpaths and a bridleway and the village residents’ association is querying the authority’s decision to allow the development—which is near to houses—given the concerns over bird flu. Locals don’t believe the unit’s proposed biosecurity arrangements can be guaranteed.
Nigel’s company, Kinsale Agriculture, has told the council that the proposed development does not pose a risk to human health and said residents’ fears were the result of scaremongering.
In nearby Northamptonshire plans for a controversial 11,000 bird free range unit have been put on hold while councillors visit the site in the village of Hargrave near Raunds. Over 100 villagers attended a meeting of the planning committee when the proposal was considered earlier this month. The risk of bird flu has been cited by locals as one of their concerns.
