A mandatory code of conduct is urgently needed to protect chicken meat farmers from market power abuse at the hands of processors, an industry report has found.
NSW Farmers Poultry Meat Manager David Banham interviewed more than 150 farmers at workshops across the country as part of a year-long investigation into the poultry meat sector, conducted through a joint project with the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Chicken Growers' Council.
The project uncovered significant inequities within the poultry meat supply chain in the process, as detailed in a report revealing the widespread misuse of market power within the industry released by the NFF on Wednesday.
"The message from poultry farmers was clear: there is little to no choice in processors, growing contract terms are unfair, and there is a deliberate undermining of collective bargaining efforts within the supply chain," Mr Banham said.
"Growers are receiving less than 6 per cent of the retail price for a roast chicken as processors continue to exercise significant market power over poultry farmers day in, day out.
"There is no doubt that growers are getting the raw end of the deal, and there needs to be significant reform within the sector to address these issues before more poultry farmers are forced to shut their doors."
Mr Banham said to improve conditions for poultry farmers into the future, the report recommended the federal government implement a mandatory code of conduct to govern growers, processors and supermarkets operating within the poultry industry.
"Currently, poultry farmers are at the mercy of a highly concentrated processing sector, with almost a code of secrecy existing around the prices they receive for all their hard work," Mr Banham said.
"Having a mandatory code of conduct enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would support fair trading as well as best practice policy and regulation of supermarkets and processors within the poultry meat industry.
"For poultry farmers, this code could mean more power to negotiate and better enforceability of contracts in the chicken meat supply chain ‒ meaning a fairer deal at the farm gate and a brighter future moving forward."
You can read the report here.
