Australian Eggs wants to become a lobby group

 

The marketing and research body, Australian Eggs is asking the Department of Agriculture to allow it to broaden activities by undertaking industry representation-activities currently provided by Egg Farmers of Australia.

It says the key benefit of Australian Eggs taking over industry representation would be secure funding for policy development and advocacy through marketing levies on replacement chicks. It says the organisation’s primary focus will remain research and development. Egg farmers need to say if they think the change is a good idea. An electronic poll of levy-paying egg producers will be conducted in early December to gauge opinions.

New Environmental Guidelines for egg industry

Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority and consulting group Integrity Ag Services are helping Australian Eggs to develop new environmental management guidelines for layer farms. We hope that revised guidelines reflect best practice -especially in view of the intensive stocking densities which have been approved for free range egg production. Politicians and bureaucrats succumbed to pressure from industrial-scale egg producers and big grocers. They ignored implications for land sustainability from such high densities. A laying hen produces half a cubic metre of manure a year. So with a stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare, farmers who follow the advice will see their land covered with 5000 cubic metres of manure per hectare every year. As chicken manure has high levels of nitrogen, 1.5%,phosphorus,0.5% and potassium 0.8%, the land will likely be rendered useless for farming within a few years. Contamination of groundwater and water courses is also likely.