The Australian Egg Corporation Annual Meeting in Sydney today will be told about the difficult conditions faced during the year which resulted in an operating loss.
Operating income actually rose by 10.2% to $8.6 million (largely because of an increase in the number of chicks bought on which every commercial producer pays a levy). But the problem was that during the year, AECL decided to increase spending - and it went up 49.5% to $9.3 million.
So AECL has dipped into reserves to cover the shortfall. Would have been much easier not to spend so much !!! I wonder how much is being paid in executive bonuses.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
30,000 stocking density postcards delivered to ACCC
Complaints are still being lodged about plans by the Australian Egg Corporation to introduce a new standard which will allow farms running up to 20,000 to label their eggs as free range.
30,000 individual postcards of complaint have been delivered to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission protesting about the planned changes. Consumers and free range egg farmers have battled against the exploitation of the industry by corporate egg producers and have demanded that stocking densities for free range hens be capped at 1,500 per hectare.
http://humanechoice.com.au/media?mode=PostView&bmi=1143438
To ensure that the ACCC's final decision is similar to its interim judgement please make sure that your voice is heard before the end of this month.
30,000 individual postcards of complaint have been delivered to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission protesting about the planned changes. Consumers and free range egg farmers have battled against the exploitation of the industry by corporate egg producers and have demanded that stocking densities for free range hens be capped at 1,500 per hectare.
http://humanechoice.com.au/media?mode=PostView&bmi=1143438
To ensure that the ACCC's final decision is similar to its interim judgement please make sure that your voice is heard before the end of this month.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Free Range on Sunrise
The Sunrise breakfast TV show on Channel 7 ran a great segment on free range eggs on Saturday. For those who missed it have a look at :
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/weekend-sunrise/-/31143150/
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/weekend-sunrise/-/31143150/
Friday, November 16, 2012
More publicity against intensive egg plans
Here's part of an article about the ACCC decision published in the South Gippsland Sentinel Times - our local newspaper:
A PRELIMINARY decision by the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been welcomed by
the free range sector of the Australian Egg Industry led by Phil
Westwood of Freeranger Eggs at Grantville.
The ACCC says it plans to reject AECL’s application for a trade mark for new standards for egg production as it did not believe they would meet Consumer expectations.
Standards proposed by the Australian Egg Corporation were designed to decieve consumers and boost the profits of corporate egg businesses, while decimating family farms throughout the country Mr Westwood said.
He said this decision (by the ACCC) demonstrates the strength of opposition to the Egg Corporation's plans from within the industry and is likely to spark strong debate at the Egg Corp’s annual meeting in Sydney on November 29.
Of 1700 direct submissions only 7 supported the AECL plan.
Most of the proposed standards were acceptable to the industry and simply retlected existing production methods.
But the purpose of several of the standards which related specifically to the free range sector of the industry, was to allow intensive production facilities to lable the eggs they produce as free range in order to obtain a price premium from unsuspecting consumers.
Mr Westwood said the fundamental elements of the proposal allowed a maximum stocking density of up to two hens per square metre (20.000 hens per hectare), to keep young hens locked in sheds until they are about 25 weeks old (even though they usually start laying at 16 to 20 weeks of age). to have no restrictions on the beak trimming of hens and to keep the hens locked up if the weather its too hot, too windy, too wet or in any other way adverse’.
The ACCC says it plans to reject AECL’s application for a trade mark for new standards for egg production as it did not believe they would meet Consumer expectations.
Standards proposed by the Australian Egg Corporation were designed to decieve consumers and boost the profits of corporate egg businesses, while decimating family farms throughout the country Mr Westwood said.
He said this decision (by the ACCC) demonstrates the strength of opposition to the Egg Corporation's plans from within the industry and is likely to spark strong debate at the Egg Corp’s annual meeting in Sydney on November 29.
Of 1700 direct submissions only 7 supported the AECL plan.
Most of the proposed standards were acceptable to the industry and simply retlected existing production methods.
But the purpose of several of the standards which related specifically to the free range sector of the industry, was to allow intensive production facilities to lable the eggs they produce as free range in order to obtain a price premium from unsuspecting consumers.
Mr Westwood said the fundamental elements of the proposal allowed a maximum stocking density of up to two hens per square metre (20.000 hens per hectare), to keep young hens locked in sheds until they are about 25 weeks old (even though they usually start laying at 16 to 20 weeks of age). to have no restrictions on the beak trimming of hens and to keep the hens locked up if the weather its too hot, too windy, too wet or in any other way adverse’.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Trade Mark Certification approval for Humane Choice
Congratulations to Humane Choice, a division of the Humane Society International, which has been granted a Certification Trade Mark by the ACCC - despite an objection lodged by the Australian Egg Corporation.
Humane Choice has passed a rigorous examination by the ACCC (unlike the Egg Corp which hasn't got past first base) to become the only accreditation body certifying all true free range livestock!
There are so many meaningless accreditation bodies around which don't bother to implement their own published standards. It's refreshing to find one that actually does what it says!!!!
In the egg industry here in Australia there are various 'accreditation schemes' but recent egg substitution scandals have demonstrated that the processes are often a scam.
Humane Choice has passed a rigorous examination by the ACCC (unlike the Egg Corp which hasn't got past first base) to become the only accreditation body certifying all true free range livestock!
There are so many meaningless accreditation bodies around which don't bother to implement their own published standards. It's refreshing to find one that actually does what it says!!!!
In the egg industry here in Australia there are various 'accreditation schemes' but recent egg substitution scandals have demonstrated that the processes are often a scam.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
AECL's own support base turns against it
Here's an excellent article from today's issue of The Land newspaper by Agricultural journalist Andrew Marshall:
EGG producers who expected to be
adopting a new national trade mark for free-range certification are
in limbo after a stern warning to their industry from the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC questioned whether the trade mark was misleading.
It received more than 1700 submissions about free-range eggs most of them challenging the perceived high stocking capacity proposed for farms which qualified for free-range certification.
Many free-range farmers are cheering the ACCC’s announcement that it plans "not to approve" the trade mark because it considers the accreditation does not fit consumer expectations of free-range farming.
The producers had actively rallied opposition to the trade mark from animal welfare bodies such as the RSPCA and consumer group Choice, plus more extremist and vegetarian lobbyists including Voiceless and Animals Australia.
The new quality assurance certification issue could become a fiery topic at this month’s annual general meeting of the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL), which had told egg producers the trade mark should be rolling out by now.
Some bigger scale egg prodncers had been preparing their farms to sign up for accreditation which would allow up to 20,000 birds a hectare to roam in and around their housing area.
Free-range purists insist true accreditation should only allow about 1500 birds/ha and any heavier stocking density was not good animal husbandry.
They also feared the economic viability of smaller capacity farms would be eroded as more large scale cage egg producers switched to large scale free-range production.
Supermarket giant Coles has intensified retail pressure on the egg industry by declaring it will only sell free-range eggs under its house brand label from January, while also discounting its egg prices.
The Egg Corporation still hopes to salvage the trade mark, saying it will work with the ACCC to ensure certification is approved "for the benefit of consumers, industry and hen welfare’~ "We’re confident there is overwhelming evidence in favour of the new assessment’ said corporation managing director, James Kellaway.
He said the ACCC’s concerns related to only a few of AECL’s audit points and the industry could allay these concerns given the evidence supporting those specific points.
AECL went throngh a three year development process to produce the new program which includes 170 andit points for best practice production on farms.
But the ACCC claimed the proposed standards not only appeared misleading but also failed to meet other requirements in the Trade Marks Act.
"The strong public interest in this matter shows that consumers want clear and accurate labelling of eggs and the ACCC considers the Egg Corporation’s certification trade mark proposal may be misleading’ said ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court.
The proposed rules would allow eggs to be certified as free-range where outdoor stocking densities "are very significantly higher than existing standards and the flock management practice of beak trimming could also be routinely practised by certified farms’ she said.
The ACCC believed these practices and standards "do not accord with consumer expectations about the free-range egg production’~ Vocal Victorian free-range egg campaigner Phil Westwood described the ACCC’s initial assessment as "a great win for family farms and the free-range industry".
He said standards proposed by AECL were designed to deceive consumers and boost the profits of corporate egg businesses, while decimating family farms across the country.
The ACCC questioned whether the trade mark was misleading.
It received more than 1700 submissions about free-range eggs most of them challenging the perceived high stocking capacity proposed for farms which qualified for free-range certification.
Many free-range farmers are cheering the ACCC’s announcement that it plans "not to approve" the trade mark because it considers the accreditation does not fit consumer expectations of free-range farming.
The producers had actively rallied opposition to the trade mark from animal welfare bodies such as the RSPCA and consumer group Choice, plus more extremist and vegetarian lobbyists including Voiceless and Animals Australia.
The new quality assurance certification issue could become a fiery topic at this month’s annual general meeting of the Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL), which had told egg producers the trade mark should be rolling out by now.
Some bigger scale egg prodncers had been preparing their farms to sign up for accreditation which would allow up to 20,000 birds a hectare to roam in and around their housing area.
Free-range purists insist true accreditation should only allow about 1500 birds/ha and any heavier stocking density was not good animal husbandry.
They also feared the economic viability of smaller capacity farms would be eroded as more large scale cage egg producers switched to large scale free-range production.
Supermarket giant Coles has intensified retail pressure on the egg industry by declaring it will only sell free-range eggs under its house brand label from January, while also discounting its egg prices.
The Egg Corporation still hopes to salvage the trade mark, saying it will work with the ACCC to ensure certification is approved "for the benefit of consumers, industry and hen welfare’~ "We’re confident there is overwhelming evidence in favour of the new assessment’ said corporation managing director, James Kellaway.
He said the ACCC’s concerns related to only a few of AECL’s audit points and the industry could allay these concerns given the evidence supporting those specific points.
AECL went throngh a three year development process to produce the new program which includes 170 andit points for best practice production on farms.
But the ACCC claimed the proposed standards not only appeared misleading but also failed to meet other requirements in the Trade Marks Act.
"The strong public interest in this matter shows that consumers want clear and accurate labelling of eggs and the ACCC considers the Egg Corporation’s certification trade mark proposal may be misleading’ said ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court.
The proposed rules would allow eggs to be certified as free-range where outdoor stocking densities "are very significantly higher than existing standards and the flock management practice of beak trimming could also be routinely practised by certified farms’ she said.
The ACCC believed these practices and standards "do not accord with consumer expectations about the free-range egg production’~ Vocal Victorian free-range egg campaigner Phil Westwood described the ACCC’s initial assessment as "a great win for family farms and the free-range industry".
He said standards proposed by AECL were designed to deceive consumers and boost the profits of corporate egg businesses, while decimating family farms across the country.
Monday, November 05, 2012
Egg washing not necessary on a well managed farm
'Black Eggs' may be an industry term, but it is not something which normal people regards as acceptable.
Make up your own mind.
http://www.poultryhub.org/2012/11/egg-washing-improving-efficacy-and-safety-to-optimise-profitability/
Make up your own mind.
http://www.poultryhub.org/2012/11/egg-washing-improving-efficacy-and-safety-to-optimise-profitability/
Saturday, November 03, 2012
ACCC decision will help family farms survive
The preliminary decision by the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to reject the Australian Egg Corp's application for a trademark for its Egg Standards Australia proposal has been welcomed by
the
free range sector of the Australian Egg Industry.
This decision demonstrates the strength of opposition to the Egg Corporation’s plans from within the industry and is likely to spark strong debate at the Egg Corp's annual meeting in Sydney on November 29.
Contrary to false assertions made by the Egg Corporation, the Model Code does set a maximum stocking density. 1500 hens per hectare is specified as the maximum for laying hens, although an item quoted by AECL from the Appendix to the Code, does allow a higher density for meat birds. When it claims that a higher density is permitted for egg laying hens, what the Egg Corp carefully ignores are the words in the same Appendix 'When meat chickens use only some weeks of the 10 week cycle on pasture, a proportionately higher stocking density than for layers may be used.'
The ACCC says it plans to reject AECL's
application for a trade mark for new standards for egg producers as
it did not believe they would meet consumer expectations.
Standards proposed by the Australian
Egg Corporation were designed to deceive consumers and boost the
profits of corporate egg businesses, while decimating family farms
across the country.
It would have allowed intensive
operations running up to 20,000 hens per hectare to classify their
facilities as free range, providing unfair competition for farms
which meet the currently accepted industry maximum standard of 1500
hens per hectare.
This decision demonstrates the strength of opposition to the Egg Corporation’s plans from within the industry and is likely to spark strong debate at the Egg Corp's annual meeting in Sydney on November 29.
The ACCC received a flood of objections
to the proposed new standards from consumers as well as from egg
farmers. There was a very successful coalition of interests led by
the Free Range Egg & Poultry Association of Australia. It included animal welfare groups Humane Society International,
RSPCA, Voiceless and Animals Australia
as well as the consumer advocacy group Choice.
The volume of submissions demonstrated
total opposition to the proposed standards. Of 1700 direct
submissions, only 7 supported the AECL plan (and many of those were probably AECL Board members or employees).
Most of the Egg Corp's proposed standards were
acceptable to the industry and simply reflected existing production
methods. But the purpose of several of the standards which related
specifically to the free range sector of the industry, was to allow
intensive production facilities to label the eggs they produced as
free range in order to obtain a price premium from unsuspecting
consumers. They did not make sense in terms of good animal husbandry,
farm sustainability or in meeting consumer expectations.
The fundamental elements of the proposals allowed a maximum stocking density of up to 2 hens per square metre (20,000 hens per hectare), to keep young hens locked in sheds until they are about 25 weeks old (even though they usually start laying at 16 - 20 weeks of age), to have no restrictions on the beak trimming of hens and to keep the hens locked up if the weather is too hot, too windy, too wet or in any other way 'adverse'. The main impacts of the new standards if introduced by the Egg Corp would be serious implications for farm sustainability, truth in labelling, consumer expectations, unfair competition within the industry and issues of animal welfare.
The fundamental elements of the proposals allowed a maximum stocking density of up to 2 hens per square metre (20,000 hens per hectare), to keep young hens locked in sheds until they are about 25 weeks old (even though they usually start laying at 16 - 20 weeks of age), to have no restrictions on the beak trimming of hens and to keep the hens locked up if the weather is too hot, too windy, too wet or in any other way 'adverse'. The main impacts of the new standards if introduced by the Egg Corp would be serious implications for farm sustainability, truth in labelling, consumer expectations, unfair competition within the industry and issues of animal welfare.
The proposed Egg Standards Australia
ignored many of the provisions in the current Model
Code
which sets the maximum stocking density on free
range farms at 1500 hens per hectare (as confirmed by legal opinion),
beak trimming is prohibited unless other methods of addressing
feather pecking and cannibalism problems have been tried and failed,
(such as appropriate selection of more docile strains of laying hens,
reducing stocking density, better lighting management and feed
control) and the hens must be allowed access
to the outdoors once they are fully feathered (at about six weeks
old).
There are no standards anywhere in the world that come close to the stocking density proposed by the Egg Corporation and there is research (ignored by AECL) which shows that it is unnecessary to trim the beaks of chickens.
There are no standards anywhere in the world that come close to the stocking density proposed by the Egg Corporation and there is research (ignored by AECL) which shows that it is unnecessary to trim the beaks of chickens.
The interim decision by the ACCC
follows various recent examples of egg substitution. A South
Australian producer was fined for labelling cage eggs as free range.
A NSW producer has been caught out selling barn laid eggs as free
range and in Victoria a free range farmer has been found to be
importing non-accredited eggs from Queensland and selling them to
unsuspecting consumers as eggs accredited to Victorian standards.
Contrary to false assertions made by the Egg Corporation, the Model Code does set a maximum stocking density. 1500 hens per hectare is specified as the maximum for laying hens, although an item quoted by AECL from the Appendix to the Code, does allow a higher density for meat birds. When it claims that a higher density is permitted for egg laying hens, what the Egg Corp carefully ignores are the words in the same Appendix 'When meat chickens use only some weeks of the 10 week cycle on pasture, a proportionately higher stocking density than for layers may be used.'
Friday, November 02, 2012
ACCC rejects Egg Corp's high density proposal.
The ACCC's initial findings on the Australian Egg Corporation plans to increase free range stocking rates to 20,000 birds per hectare have rejected the trade mark application.
The ACCC is concerned that the AECL Standards are inconsistent with consumer expectations and understanding of free range egg production. The ACCC is concerned that the use of the trade mark in the circumstances of such inconsistency has the potential to mislead or deceive consumers.
The ACCC is concerned that the AECL Standards are inconsistent with consumer expectations and understanding of free range egg production. The ACCC is concerned that the use of the trade mark in the circumstances of such inconsistency has the potential to mislead or deceive consumers.
The ACCC does not believe that the Egg Corp Standard would meet consumer expections for free range.
Of 1700 submission, only 7 supported the AECL proposal (and most of those were probably AECL Board members and staff)
A great win for the free range sector of the industry and a kick in the teeth for the Egg Corporation.
More details here:
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1087836/fromItemId/142
Of 1700 submission, only 7 supported the AECL proposal (and most of those were probably AECL Board members and staff)
A great win for the free range sector of the industry and a kick in the teeth for the Egg Corporation.
More details here:
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1087836/fromItemId/142
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