Poultry Business Development Groups look to future

Business Development Groups (BDG) have been operating successfully in several sectors for the past three years.

Pictured at the Greenmount Poultry Business Development Group meeting at CAFRE are: (L-R) Claire Anderson, CAFRE, Martyn Blair, BDG member, John Kirkpatrick, TESCO Agricultural Manager for Poultry & Eggs and Ivor Ferguson, Ulster Farmers’ Union President.

Within the eight poultry groups there are 150 poultry producers meeting regularly to learn about members’ units and production methods, and also hearing and learning from leading specialists from within the UK poultry industry. The sessions have also included visits to an AD plant, a processing plant and a feed manufacturing facility.

Market developments and challenges have also been raised. To address some of the questions on meat and egg trends and marketing, John Kirkpatrick, TESCO Agricultural Manager for Poultry & Eggs, delivered a question and answer event at CAFRE, Greenmount in October 2018 to all poultry BDG members.

The event jointly hosted with the Ulster Farmers’ Union was chaired by a BDG member, Martyn Blair and answered the very current question of going colony cage free by 2025, helping some commercial egg producers and others start to plan for their future.

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