2014 International Year of Family Farming

We hope that 2014 will demonstrate to our politicions in Canberra and all State parliaments that family farms are a greater benefit to the country and the community than the corporate giants which get all the attention.

The International Year of Family Farming aims to stimulate policies for the sustainable development of family farms, communal units, and cooperatives.
When the United Nations declared 2014 as the Year of Family Farming, it announced that family farms were important for sustainable food production to achieve food security. The Year focuses on solutions to combat poverty and hunger.
We will do everything we can to get our politicians to recognise this and we will host a number of events throughout the year. 

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/year/2014/family-farming.html

Victorian Produce Field Guide now just $25

The Field Guide to Victorian Produce will make a great Christmas present - especially as the price has now been cut from $40 to $25.

The Guide makes it easy for anyone to access quality produce from their food region, or to enjoy regional food tourism by going direct to the source. The Guide also connects growers to new markets by providing a platform for them to tell their story and sell their goods. In the name of localism and authenticity this book celebrates quality regional produce, farming and a healthy life - just like us at Freeranger Eggs.

Full of great stories, recommendations by locals, beautiful illustrations, useful maps and two indexes the Guide is a valuable addition to the Victorian food sector – a much needed resource and a practical tool.

It can be ordered via the products page of the Freeranger website www.freeranger.com.au or you can pick it up at one of the Farmers' Markets we attend.

http://www.locavored.com/purchase-the-field-guide-to-victorian-produce/

Hen welfare is a complex issue - but genuine free range comes out on top

Professor Christine Nicol of Bristol University in the UK has written about the media misrepresentation of some of her work on hen welfare issues. Some news outlets here in Australia were guilty of publishing misleading information.

She says there has been a good deal of media coverage about the relative merits of enriched cage and free-range egg production.

'Some,' she says 'reached the simple conclusion that enriched cages are better for hen welfare than free range. Others have argued the opposite'.

She argues that in a comprehensive study comparing four different housing systems, hens in enriched cages had lower mortality and fewer problems relating to disease, pecking injuries and skeletal health than hens in any other system. However, in terms of bird welfare, enriched cage can never provide birds with the full freedom to perform behaviours that matter to them.

'In this respect the free-range system has the edge. More so than any alternative, the free-range system has the potential to meet both the physical and the behavioural needs of the birds', Professor Nicol says.

Full details of the UK report here:

http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/12/12/2013/142106/free-range-can-be-better-if-issues-are-addressed.htm

Free range court battles - ACCC acts

At last the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken action against a couple of big egg producers who claim that the eggs they sell are 'free range'. The industry knows that this con has been going on for years, but it became big business - worth millions - once some of the smart operators interpreted a clause in the Appendix to the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - Domestic Poultry as allowing an unlimited stocking density on free range farms.
The Code actually limits outdoor stocking densities to 1500 hens per hectare - but the guys chasing dollars chose to interpret a clause relating to meat birds as also applying to egg laying hens. They were dreaming, but (for them) it made sense for their bottom lines. The difference of course is that stocking density for meat birds is not as relevant as they are sent off to the abattoir when they are five or six weeks old so they hardly have any time out of the sheds in which they were raised.
Keep it up ACCC !!!!
http://accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-institutes-proceedings-against-free-range-egg-producers

Pakenham Gazette - On the Land

The Freeranger Eggs farm featured in this week's Pakenham Gazette in the On the Land section. This sort of article does us far more good than features in metropolitan papers - or on radio and tv - because we only sell locally.
We don't travel for hours doing the rounds of city markets as do many many of our colleagues in the egg industry.
They make a mockery of the pretence that they are selling 'local' food. I suppose they can always claim that it's local somewhere!

Biosecurity problems led to avian influenza outbreaks

Investigations into the avian influenza outbreaks near Young in New South Wales appear to confirm that the biosecurity practices on the two farms were not up to scratch – even though they were said to be 'state of the art' facilities.

It seemed odd that the initial outbreak was able to spread so quickly to cage hens on a farm which also had birds with 'access' to the outdoors – and then to a separate cage farm.

The likely cause has now been revealed by the Department of Primary Industries in NSW.

'The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H7N2 outbreak near Young was first detected in a free range and cage layer chicken farm near Young. The free range birds had potential exposure to waterbirds and a dam is located close to the free range poultry enterprise. Ducks have been reported on the property. Mortalities were first seen in the free range birds before clinical signs were seen in the caged birds, suggesting free range layers were infected before the cage layers. Avian influenza viruses are known to circulate in migratory and waterbirds in Australia. This incident appears to be a point source introduction by a wild bird, followed by adaptation and selection of a virus with high pathogenicity to chickens. A second infected property was detected and confirmed to be HPAI H7N2. This is a caged layer farm. Re-use of cardboard egg cartons is the most likely route of transmission from the first infected property to the second infected property and between enterprises on the first infected property.

The Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) is a formal, legally binding agreement between Animal Health Australia, the Australian government, all state and territory governments, and currently fourteen livestock industry signatories (‘parties’). The EADRA covers the management and funding of responses to emergency animal disease (EAD) incidents. HPAI H7N2 is a category 2 disease, which means that government covers 80% of the costs and industry covers 20% of the costs. The industry costs are determined in relation to industries' gross value of production. Under EADRA, each industry party must take reasonable steps to ensure that its industry meets the cost sharing obligations of that industry. The Commonwealth may initially meet an industry’s cost sharing obligations, and that industry will then repay the Commonwealth within a reasonable time period.'

Statements by politicians and others about the outbreaks were factually incorrect. A comparative analysis on the number of avian influenza outbreaks in Australia between 1976 and 2013 demonstrates that most avian influenza outbreaks were in intensive housing systems. The last two outbreaks in 2012 and 2013 were in very large free range flocks. The risks of avian influenza in free range should be discussed in the context of the size of the flock and the stocking density. 
The industry needs to learn from this – for example, dams should not be located anywhere near the range area to limit the potential for wild duck access. Most of us in the free range industry have been well aware of this issue. There is also a problem with operating different production facilities on the same property. Establishing Barn, Cage and intensive Free Range sheds in close proximity to each other, with staff moving freely between the different systems, is a disaster waiting to happen.

Food Safety and Quality Assurance program for all free range egg farms in Australia

 

There is massive demand amongst free range egg farmers for help with preparing the documentation needed to comply with the increasing complexity of State and Federal regulations. Because there now is no active association representing the free range industry here in Victoria, we have been getting emails and phone calls from operators of free range farms asking how they can set up food safety and quality assurance programs on their farms.
We also get quite a few requests from interstate.
The simplest way, as we always tell them, is to adapt a generic program which has already been developed.
We have a program on the Freeranger website which is readily available on the Freeranger Club page and full info is available on the Food Safety page of our site. If anyone needs help adapting the program, please contact an egg industry consultant - or we can help. All you have to do is ask.
http://www.freeranger.com.au/food-safety.html
A heap of information is also available on the DEPI website and every registered egg producer has received a copy of the booklet on food safety. The document includes information to assist in meeting the requirements of the standard and manage the food safety hazards associated with egg production.

Producers must comply with the obligations set out in the standard if they have 50 birds or more. If you don't have a recognised QA program in place, you are required to follow a food safety management statement.The food safety management statement is evidence that you have appropriate systems in place and the statement must be produced if you are asked to do so.

A food safety management statement can be a recognised quality assurance program or a generic food safety management statement approved by the Secretary of the DEPI.

Egg cartel case looming?

In a keynote address to an Economics Conference in Sydney, the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims argued that Australia should embrace the root and branch review of competition policy and law and forshadowed major moves against egg producers who have been involved in collusion.

Here's a few quotes from his address: “Most of our consumer issues have an important competition dimension. For example, our work on credence claims, dealing with false claims as to where (Australia, King Island) or how (free range, or by a skilled artisan) a good is made is for two reasons. First, the consumer is not getting what they paid for; second, and often more important, genuine producers are losing out to those making the false claims.

“Consider an industry with high entry barriers and three competitors who collude to raise prices. Suppose the demand curve for the goods is or is near vertical. In this case there may be no efficiency loss (at least in a static sense), just a transfer of wealth from the consumers to producers.

“How is the welfare loss from this cartel to be compared to inappropriate monopoly utility pricing, or misleading consumers about their consumer guarantee rights?

“With our collusion cases I expect more will be purely local cases, but international cases must always also be a priority, particularly when Australians, Australian businesses, and businesses in Australia suffer significant harm.

“I expect to be able to announce the commencement of another domestic cartel case before the end of the year.”

Let's hope it gets rolling!!
Details of his address here:
 http://www.accc.gov.au/speech/keynote-address-rbb-economics-conference

Details needed about the Avian Influenza outbreak

We have sent a request off to DAFF, the Federal Government Department  of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, asking about the outcome of the recent avian flu problems in NSW.
Egg farmers are keen to understand how the outbreak of Avian Influenza originated at Young. Has evidence been found on how it started? Were ducks involved and did the farm have a dam which could be accessed by the chickens? How was it spread throughout the original farm as we understand this was heralded as 'a state of the art' facility. Even more worrying is the question about how did it spread to a second farm - or was that a totally unrelated incident?
All eggs farmers want to ensure that our biosecurity systems are as effective as possible so it is necessary to know what went wrong in these two incidents.
We understand that all egg producers may be required to pay a levy as an Emergency Animal Disease Response to refund government costs. When is this levy likely to be imposed?

Vaccine against Bird Flu

The U.S Food & Drug Administration has approved the first vaccine for the prevention of H5N1 avian influenza. The vaccine, is for use in people 18 years of age and older who are at increased risk of exposure to the H5N1 influenza virus.
Avian influenza A viruses generally do not infect people, however H5N1 has caused serious illness and death mostly among people who have been in close contact with infected poultry. When people do become infected with H5N1, about 60 percent die, according to the World Health Organization. H5N1 has pandemic potential because it continues to infect wild birds with occasional outbreaks of influenza disease in poultry populations, and most humans have no immunity to it.

A third person has died in Indonesia this year after contracting bird flu, and 12 have died in Cambodia.
Details:
http://www.wattagnet.com/165208.html

Are egg replacers all they seem?

An article in The Wall Street Journal extolling the virtues of Hampton Creek Foods egg replacers has been de-bunked by Terence O'Keefe in a blog published today. He says that the article was not written from a food perspective but was the work of a technology reporter. "This is common for the news items appearing about Hampton Creek Foods products, it isn’t the reporters on the food beat writing them. Just as I am not looking for reviews of the latest "smart" gadget in the food section of the paper, I am also not looking for culinary advice on the tech page", O'Keefe said.

Here's a link to the blog by Terence O'Keefe:
http://www.wattagnet.com/Why_is_the_tech_media_so_gullible_about_egg_replacers_.html

Tasmania releases new draft egg safety regulations

The Tasmanian Government today released draft egg regulations for public comment. They appear to  be a very sensible match of consumer protection measures while limiting the impact on backyarders.

The draft regulations (Primary Produce (Egg) Safety Regulations 2013) are designed to enable compliance with a national food safety standard that must be applied by all States and Territories.

Mr Klumpp, General Manager Biosecurity and Product Integrity with the Department of Primary Industries, said a new egg standard in the national Food Standards Code, developed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, had a requirement for egg stamping to be introduced in all States and Territories as part of improving food safety standards in the egg production industry.

“Acknowledging this is a national requirement that Tasmania must comply with, the draft regulations for our State have been developed to take on concerns and issues from Tasmania’s large and small egg producers,” Mr Klumpp said.

“For example, although stamping of eggs to ensure traceability of sold products is required, we have identified a range of measures to enable compliance whilst minimising impacts on our smaller egg producers.”

Mr Klumpp said the measures Tasmania has identified to address concerns raised by some egg producers included:

· Producers who had fewer than 20 egg producing birds and did not sell eggs would not be required to stamp their product at all.

· Producers with fewer than 20 egg producing birds and intend selling their product would be provided with a free hand held stamp by the Department when they registered their details. This would enable eggs to simply be hand stamped to ensure traceability requirements are met. Producers in this category must still comply with the Food Standards Code, however, do not need to be accredited by DPIPWE.

· Producers with more than 20 egg producing birds will be required to be accredited by DPIPWE and have an audited and approved food safety program in place. However, this has been a requirement in Tasmania since commencement of the Egg Industry Act 2002. All eggs produced in this category are also required to be stamped.

“This national egg standard was developed in response to the level of egg-related illnesses occurring in Australia each year – estimated at more than 12,000 cases and costing $44 million.

“Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) determined that having commercial eggs stamped with the producers unique identifying mark would enable them to be quickly traced in the case of food safety problems.

“FSANZ ascertained that in the event of egg-related foodborne illness, stamped eggs could be more easily traced to the producer, enabling the cause of any contamination to be addressed quickly, preventing further potentially contaminated eggs entering the market and averting wide product recalls.”

Mr Klump said written submissions on the draft regulations could be made until 10 January 2014.

Egg stamping starts to roll out in Victoria

At last the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries has got around to issuing stamping codes to egg farms. We have just received our code at Freeranger Eggs. The Government chose to delay the introduction of compulsory stamping of individual eggs with a farm identification code until November next year - to give the industry time to adjust! But we are happy to start stamping long before that. The only reason we haven't begun already is that we couldn't get a code from them to put on our eggs.
Identifying each egg should help to control egg substitution but there are a couple of problems. Firstly, backyarders with 50 hens or less are exempt - so that that means Victorian consumers are being put at risk by buying something like a million eggs a year which cannot be traced. It is unfair to impose regulations on just some sellers. The same standards should be applied to anyone selling eggs (give them away by all means but all egg sellers should have to meet the same regulations).
Secondly, it seems that eggs can be stamped on the grading floor. That defeats the object of stamping to identify the farm on which the eggs are laid. Staff at the grading floor can use any stamp they like so unless the eggs are stamped on farm before they are sent to a grading floor, there can be no guarantee that the eggs are from the farm identified by the code.
Here's a link to an article in Tassie about the nonsense which has been generated there by people who don't care about food safety: http://www.themercury.com.au/lifestyle/our-storm-in-an-egg-cup/story-fnj64o9j-1226754065881

A comparision of egg production costs

Research has been published by the International Egg Commission, dealing with production costs in various egg production systems around the world.

Peter van Horne, an economist and economic analyst with the IEC said that the combination of high feed prices, legislation and especially the conventional cage ban in Europe has put the production costs of eggs at an all-time high. Costs differ per country, but enriched cages and aviary systems have significantly higher costs. A market bonus is necessary to compensate.

The conclusion is that enriched cages produce eggs at the lowest costs. Production costs in aviaries are higher compared to enriched cages (a cost increase of 22% compared with the old conventional cages). It says this means that a higher price must be achieved to keep the income for poultry farmers at a consistent level. Other alternative housing systems, like free range and organic, have higher production costs than enriched cages and aviaries. Eggs produced in these systems need an even higher bonus from the market to compensate the farmer for the additional costs.

I wonder how much that research cost!!!
More details here:
http://www.worldpoultry.net/Layers/Eggs/2013/10/Production-costs-of-eggs-at-record-high-level-1315811W/

Poultry scientist says her comments on hen welfare were 'misconstrued'

Poultry scientist Professor Christine Nicol from Bristol University sparked widespread controversy in the UK and overseas when a speech she made resulted in newspaper reports claiming that cage hens enjoyed better welfare than free range birds.

She said her speech had been misconstrued. Professor Nicol said that she agreed to appear on a panel of scientists explaining some of the more complex issues about farm size. During an hour-long briefing she said she mentioned that birds on very large farms could have rather good welfare outcomes on some measures. But, she said she could not prevent headlines like 'Cage hens are happier than free range' in the Daily Telegraph and 'Organic isn't better than factory farmed' in the Daily Mail. Even the BBC reported that, 'Welfare standards are on average higher in laying hens kept in cages than in free range flocks, according to a leading veterinary expert.'

Professor Nicol is well known in the poultry industry. Her team at Bristol has conducted research studies on laying birds, including current trials on beak trimming.

Her speech, at an event about the merits of large scale farming organised by the Science Media Centre, came just over a week after Elwyn Griffiths, chairman of the British Egg Products Association (BEPA), stood up at the Egg and Poultry Industry Conference to say that intensive egg production offered the highest level of hen welfare.

Sorghum v Corn in poultry feed may lead to more colouring additives

Scott Beyer, PhD, a researcher at Kansas State University in the US has found that grain sorghum varieties compare favourably to corn in low-cost feed formulations. Old varieties of grain sorghum contained relatively high amounts of the anti-nutritional compound, tannin. The presence of tannin in poultry feeds is known to suppress growth and performance of all types of poultry. Tannins bind to proteins and render them less available for metabolism.

Over decades of research, sorghum varieties that contained various levels of tannin were used to compile tables and other references for the feeding value of sorghum compared to corn. Many nutritionists continue to think of it as a lesser grain although new varieties have been introduced with high relative nutrient values. Some varieties of grain sorghum containing significant quantities of tannin are still around but varieties are grown for animal feed that are 99 percent free of tannin.

The nutrient profile of sorghum is complementary to protein sources typically used in poultry rations anywhere in the world, and is very similar to corn. Amino acid digestibility compares favourably with corn. The fat content of grain sorghum and the energy value for poultry is slightly lower when compared to corn. However, this difference can be balanced in rations with other sources of energy.

The big drawback with replacing corn with sorghum is that it contains smaller quantities of yellow xanthophylls required for egg yolk pigmentation – which means that even more egg farmers will resort to adding colouring additives to enhance yolk colour.

Tassie Farmers & Graziers reckon that exemptions for backyard egg sellers are unfair

With food health and hygiene, it's not appropriate to have one law for some and another law for others, according to the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association.
"We're told the recent changes to egg labeling regulations reflect an assessed risk of food contamination from poor handling and other factors. If this is a real health risk, you cannot exempt backyard and small producers from being responsible for what they sell," Association chief executive Jan Davis said.
Ms Davis was commenting on a move by the Tasmanian Greens to exempt people with fewer than 50 hens from new regulations that come into force there on 26 November 2013.
These regulations will require any eggs sold in Tasmania to be stamped with identifying information.
"The rationale is that, if there is a problem, we have to be able to isolate the producer responsible," Ms Davis said.
"If you exempt a large segment of the industry that supplies eggs, even if it is a backyard industry, you destroy the integrity of the risk assessment system. Of particular concern is that, in many cases, this smaller segment is actually the greatest source of potential risk.
"Therefore it has to be all in or none in. Otherwise it's a clear case of discrimination.
"This is the sort of community division that arises when governments do not do their homework and do not consult with the appropriate people involved in the industry before they decide to act. I have already said that these regulations are typical of the nanny state approach common to governments in Australia.
"If these regulations are to be introduced, they must be imposed on all those who supply the market, not just the bigger players. A salmonella outbreak is not excusable simply because it derives from a small producer.
"If there is a problem with the administration of the regulations or the cost to smaller producers, then let's deal with that as a separate issue.
"What's good for the goose has to be good for the gander."
At Freeranger Eggs, we agree with those sentiments. If backyard producers squeal at the imaginary cost of stamping eggs, they can talk to the Government. In NSW the Government there undertook to provide hand held stampers to small producers.

Breakthrough with bird flu vaccine?

Researchers in Australia may have come up with a vaccine which could halt the transmission of bird flu in humans.
The New England Journal of Medicine has published a report on the findings of trials.
Details here:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1313186?query=featured_home

National Day of Climate Action

At Freeranger Eggs we operate the farm on sustainable principles and we have processes in place to minimise our environmental footprint. Check out our website to see some of the steps we have taken over the years. If you agree that there is a need for more action on climate change - join us the The Glade in Inverloch next Sunday (November 17). We will be there at the Inverloch Farmers' Market and at 11.30 we will also participate in a Climate Action Picnic as part of Get Up's National Day of Climate Action.

If you can't get to Inverloch, go along to one of the other events supporting the national day of action.
As well helping to send a message to Canberra, at Inverloch you will be able to enjoy our full range of eggs - from our Megga's right down to the tiny pullets eggs which are only available when a new flock starts to lay.

The strange and violent weather patterns being experience around the world may not be totally a result of the impact of humans - but do we dare to ignore the possibility?
Event at The Glade, Inverloch 11.30 next Sunday.

 

National Day of Climate Action

www.getup.org.au

Join the Freeranger Club

We have now launched the Freeranger Club for people thinking about starting a free range egg farm. We encourage you all to join! For a one-off subscription of just $40 (no ongoing fees) you will receive a copy of our eBook on setting up a free range farm, be booked in to attend one of our workshops at Grantville (the next one is on Sunday November 24) and get password-protected access to the Freeranger Club and downloads page on the Freeranger Eggs website. We will keep this page updated with industry happenings here and overseas and info which is of value to anyone who is in (or wants to be) in the free range egg industry. If you can't make it to the next workshop, we can book you into any subsequent workshop - the following one is scheduled for May 2014. Details are on our website: http://www.freeranger.com.au