Tuesday, 20 March 2018 07:55

Egg producers shell out

Written by 
By late 2022 all battery cages will have to be gone. By late 2022 all battery cages will have to be gone.

Law changes requiring the end of battery and colony cages will cost as much as $1 million for a smaller farmer and up to $60m for larger companies, says the NZ Poultry Industry Association.

Executive director Michael Brooks says that under current law, by 2022 a certain percentage of NZ’s cages have to be gone – depending on their age – and by late 2022 all battery cages will have to be gone.

“That will make us the only place in the world, after the EU, where this has happened. Australians have just done their review and decided to keep some cages,” Brooks says.

However in NZ, after 2022 colonies, barn and free range will be the only systems allowed.  

Last year, the two NZ supermarket chains said they would no longer take colony eggs and would only accept barn and free range supplies. 

Brooks says a farmer told him that one week before the supermarket chain he supplied made that decision, he had paid $750,000 to put in a new colony system.

Brooks says extremist views propagated by activist groups such as Safe are a big concern for the industry. 

“They are a big, international organisation. In NZ they have three offices and 25-30 staff these days and a lot of money. Their power on social media with the supermarkets and the general public is huge.”

More like this

Eggageddon

OPINION: As they say, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

Trees please chooks

An unusual feature of egg producer John Greene's Lakeside Free Range chicken farm, near Lincoln, is that the outdoor forage areas are planted in trees.

Featured

Farmer input needed to combat FE

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on livestock farmers to take part in a survey measuring the financial impact of facial eczema (FE).

Editorial: Escaping Trump's wrath

OPINION: President Donald Trump's bizarre hard line approach to the world of what was once 'rules-based trade' has got New Zealand government officials, politicians and exporters on tenterhooks.

Wool pellets to boost gardens

With wool prices steadily declining and shearing costs on the rise, a Waikato couple began looking for a solution for wool from their 80ha farm.

National

Machinery & Products

Alpego eyes electric power harrow

Distributed by OriginAg in New Zealand, Italian manufacturer Alpego recently showed its three metre Alysium electric power harrow at the…

New seed drill tech coming

Incorporating Vaderstad's latest seed drill technology, the Proceed V 24, is said to improve precision and increase planting efficiencies for…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Waffle man

OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…

Banks on notice

OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter