Organic egg production faces a potentially bleak future says a new report.
Despite the fact that sales have now topped £35 million and organic represents more than 6 per cent of value of the total egg market the sector faces major obstacles says the report’s author Laura Aucott.
The Deans technical manager has, during the past four years, visited Germany, Austria, Denmark and New Zealand as a Nuffield Scholar to get a global perspective on organic production.
Her report “Feasibility and Future For Organic Eggs” concludes that the sector is facing a future clouded by “confusion, frustration, disharmony and complexity”.
“Can organic egg production be truly sustainable and yet remain an economically viable option for the UK producer in the future?” she asks. “The answer to this question is becoming increasingly no.”
Her report focuses on three major problem areas:
• Organic producers are facing increasing costs from ever more stringent regulations but consumers have been educated, by supermarkets, to expect high quality food at low cost.
• The concept of organic production does not fit easily with a market place dominated by supermarkets with their demands for lower prices and stringent product specifications.
• Egg production itself does not fit easily into the organic ethos.
Ms. Aucott spells out the cost issue like this: “It is a fact that organic eggs cost more to produce and this will rise significantly over the next few years as derogations for example on flock size, stocking density and origin of stock and feed all come to an end. UK producers will face a rise of almost 37p per dozen which, when transposed to retail costs rises to almost 70p. Will a consumer already paying up to £3.50p a dozen accept this increase for a product they already perceive as organic?”
It is the dominance of supermarkets in the British market (they are responsible for 82% of sales) that has led to the vast majority of the one million strong British organic laying flock being kept under the standards of Organic Farmers and Growers, says the report.
“The challenge for the suppliers,” it goes on, “has been to reduce costs and make organic more affordable, as price is seen as one of the key barriers to purchase.
“We therefore have a producer in the UK being faced with higher and higher standards and on the other hand being asked to bring down the cost of organic eggs to the consumer.”
The mis-match between organic and supermarket demands is exemplified by the issue of size.
“Compared to all other countries the UK stands out as having to deliver a disproportionate volume of large organic eggs,” says the report. “The hen does not lay one hundred per cent large eggs so we either have to manipulate performance to encourage larger eggs or we have to have a greater number of birds to meet volumes, which results in a large volume of smaller eggs which we cannot sell as organic.
“This situation does not fit easily with organic ideals and puts the birds under undue pressure.”
But commercial egg production itself does not fit naturally into organic principles which involve the creation of an integrated farming system.
“What I have seen in the main,” says Ms. Aucott, “is that this organic egg production system does not fit easily into the whole farm ideal. We have dedicated units and a monoculture. In all my travels I have seen only one fully integrated organic egg unit where the laying hens are an important part of the organic rotation. And this was in New Zealand.”
She makes a series of recommendations which include the resurrection of the Industry Working Group on a more formal footing to provide a platform for producers to voice concerns, share expertise and lobby legislators.
She also wants to see supermarkets take some responsibility for educating the consumer about the true value of food and “not constrain organic production further through unrealistic and wasteful specification parameters.”
Laura Aucott’s scholarship was sponsored by the BEMB(R&E) Trust.
