Birdflu

Birdflu has come to my back yard. I hope local producers can get through it without too much stress – this article gives an insight into the broader challenges arising from the food crisis. More broadly it begs the question for local authorities how much do we really know about the characteristics of the food sector in our own backyards and the economic challenges and opportunities linked to it? This article tells us

Egg producers located in the avian influenza restriction zones in East Yorkshire say they are facing a rapid build-up of eggs and manure on their holdings due to on-going movement restrictions.

Tim Warkup has 30,000 free-range layers on two sites about four miles away from the infected duck farm at Nafferton, near Driffield, and is well within the wider surveillance zone.

“We already maintain strict bio-security, so not much has changed, apart from banning visitors and keeping the popholes shut,” he said. “The biggest problem is getting eggs moved.

“Noble want our eggs on fibre trays, and we’ve only got enough of them until the end of Wednesday (19 November). We could put them on plastic trays on Thursday, if we’re allowed, but by Friday we’ll be out of trays altogether.”

Mr Warkup’s other big concern is flock depletion. His larger flock of 16,000 birds is already 70-weeks-old and is due to be cleared out on 5 December. “At this stage we do not know if we will be able to move them, and if we can, will we be able to clear the muck out?”

According to Defra’s Poultry Register, there are about 60 poultry keepers in the two restriction zones, though only those with more than 50 birds are required to register their flocks.