PoultryInternational: New Zealand's revised battery cage phaseout makes egg industry transition feasible

26-02-2014

New Zealand's egg producers advised to make

transition happen

MARK CLEMENTS

New Zealand's egg farmers started 2014 with a victory

of sorts, having won a more favorable phaseout period

for battery cage egg production. New Zealand, like

the European Union before it, has decided to ban the

use of conventional cages. While the egg industry has

been broadly in favor of the change, the timetable for

implementation had been described as "brutal."

New Zealand's Draft Code for Animal Welfare - Layer

Hens was released by the country's then Ministry of

Agriculture and Forestry in February 2011, and among its

key recommendations was the gradual phasing out of

conventional cages by 2022.

This proposal to move away from conventional cages

was consistent with the New Zealand egg industry's own

direction. However, on release of the draft, the industry

was at pains to point out that any change could not

occur overnight, in part due to the investment needed,

but also to prevent interruption to the egg supply.

Views considered?

By late 2012, the Code of Animal Welfare (Layer

Hens) had been released by the Ministry for Primary

Industries (MPI).

Michael Guthrie, chairman of the Egg Producers

Federation (EPF), commented: "Our argument is not

with the code per se, but the extremely short phaseout

period for cages impacted by the code. The proposed

phaseout period, which we assess in practical terms to

be more like four to six years, and not the 10 suggested

by the Ministry for Primary Industries, is impossible to

achieve in practical and financial terms. This will have an

enormous, possibly even crippling impact on many in

the industry."

As initially released, the code envisaged the phasing

out of battery cages by 2022, and the adoption of

minimum standards and best practices for layer hens.

From December 7, 2012, battery cages would no longer

be allowed to be installed, only colony cages would

be permitted, and existing battery cages would be

progressively removed over a 10-year period.

The code envisioned that cages installed before

December 31, 1999, would have

to be replaced by December 31, 2016, while cages installed

before December 2001 would need to be replaced by

December 31, 2018. Cages installed before December 31,

2003 would need to be replaced by December 31, 2020.

There are around 126 egg farms in New Zealand housing

3.3 million hens, and producing approximately 1 billion eggs

annually. Approximately 83 percent of New Zealand's eggs

are from conventional cages, and come from approximately

47 producers. About 3 percent of eggs are produced in

barns and approximately 14 are produced in barns with

access to the outdoors. Most eggs produced are for the

domestic market, although there is a small export industry.

The New Zealand egg industry has not stood still

regarding concerns over conventional cages, and some

years back contributed funding to a model colony shed with

45,000 birds near Dunedin to test the system under New

Zealand conditions.

The NZ$1 million (US$827,750) project has seen the

colony system subjected to rigorous investigations by

the country's industry and the Ministry of Agriculture in

association with the UK's Bristol University. The National

Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), an

independent advisory committee set up to provide advice

to the MPI, has judged the colony system welfare acceptable.

Glimmer of hope

In light of concerns raised by egg producers, NAWAC

announced in March last year that it had commissioned an

independent assessment of the practicability and feasibility

of its transition. The report's findings would be used to make

recommendations to the MPI, and in June 2013, the findings

were published.

The author noted that the provisions would require the

replacement of all existing cages, the construction of new

sheds as existing sheds would not hold as many birds, and in

some cases the building of new farms to accommodate the

increased space requirements. A survey found that some 30

percent of the current flock would remain in the same sheds,

24 percent in new sheds on the same land, and 24 percent

would require new farms.

A downturn in production over the transition period due

to shed conversion was estimated at 2 percent of national

production over the transition period. The longer and more

even across time the conversion process occurred, the less

the impact of the hiatus on production, the report stated.

In the view of the report's author, there was a high risk

of significant disruption to the marketplace associated with

the early parts of the code of welfare transition pathway. In

order to address this problem, alternate transition pathways

needed to be considered.

Regarding the pathway to change, the report's

recommendations were taken on board on advice of

NAWAC and, in December 2013, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced amendments to the Code of

Welfare.

While the final date for all layer hens to be out of battery

cages has remained the same, the transition dates have

been changed by two years. Now, cages installed before

December 31, 1999 must now be replaced by December 31,

2018, while those installed before December 2001 must now

be replaced by December 31, 2020.

"An independent review found that a significant

disruption to New Zealand's egg supply and the price of

eggs would be almost inevitable with the original transition

dates," Guy said. "Amending the dates will give farmers the

time they need to get resource consents and build new

sheds. This will minimize the risk of disruption to the egg

supply and price hikes."

The industry will be required to publicly report each

year on key milestones in the phaseout. Reports will include

the number of egg farms still using battery cages, and the

total size of the battery cage flock. For those farms still using

battery cages, additional information will be provided on

how many have secured finance for the transition, lodged

resource consent applications, had consents approved, built

new or altered existing sheds, and installed new equipment.

Some relief

The EPF notes that it has accepted the minister's decision.

"We made it quite clear to the minister and NAWAC

that the four-year deadline for older cages was a physical

impossibility and the effect would be to either drive many

farmers out of business or force them to break the law. The

change is simply making the impossible possible," Michael

Guthrie, chairman of the EPF, said. "This small adjustment,

which involves moving the four-year deadline to six years

and the six-year deadline to eight years, makes the transition

bearable, though it has to be said that this remains by far

the fastest transition period imposed on an egg industry

anywhere in the world."

Many of New Zealand's egg farmers are expected to

convert to colony farming, which has been endorsed by

NAWAC as welfare acceptable, but others may convert to

free range or barn farming. Many could leave the industry

altogether, the association notes.

"Our advice to farmers now is to knuckle down and

make the transition as prescribed," Guthrie says. "For most

cage farmers who produce by far the largest number of

eggs in the industry, this transition involves the complete

remodeling of their farms and substantial

investment in new equipment. This is not for

the fainthearted and unfortunately there will be

casualties."

Not everybody happy

Despite a degree of consensus between

the association and the government, not

everybody is happy. When the code's first proposals

were published, the Royal New Zealand Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RNZSPCA) found

them unacceptable.

"A cage is a cage is a cage," the society said. In its

submission to NAWAC's review it stated that a caged

management system could in no way be considered

humane - regardless of the enrichments. For the

industry to spend millions converting to a system that

consumers will reject seemed pointless, it said.

"New Zealand's consumers will vote with their

wallets as we have seen in Europe, and there will be

a diminishing market for caged-bird eggs. Farmers

who have invested in expensive colony cages will be

left selling an inferior product in a market demanding

better and better welfare," said then RNZSPCA national

chief executive Robyn Kippenberger.

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