RELEASE:
Egg Farmers of Australia (EFA) today lodged its submission toAnimal Health Australia’s Draft AnimalWelfare Standards and Guidelines (Poultry) supporting the standards andguidelines as proposed while also supporting a temporarily regulated cap oncurrent conventional cage farming and releasing its first Animal Welfare Policy Statement.
EFA CEO John Dunn said the decision to support a regulated capbeing placed on conventional cages was made in response to community feedbackover the past 90 days.
"We understand that there is community interest and concern aboutcage egg production and accept that it must be acknowledged." said Mr Dunn.
"We hear public concern but we know we can change minds if webetter engage.
"When people see what we do and understand why, attitudes change –we know this from the engagement program we’ve been running which has involvedopening our farms to community members to show and explain what we do.
"The vast majority of those who have toured a farm with EFA have expressedconfidence in modern cage egg farming.
"But we can’t ignore the elephant in the room – with Animal HealthAustralia receiving 100,000 emails opposing cage farming, it’s clear these woundswill take time to address and heal. Our support for a regulatory cap shows we’recommitted to listening and engaging.
Until we can expand our engagement and give the public confidencein what we do, farmers will accept a temporary restriction on the constructionof new conventional cages as part of this process."
Mr Dunn said the EFA submission also includes a new Animal Welfare Policy Statement whichhas been developed in response to feedback from the organisation’s community engagementprogram.
"We believe Option C provides wholesale reform and a net communitybenefit, however we recognise from the number of responses to this process thatmany people would not understand why this is so," said Mr Dunn.
"Regrettably, egg farmers have been reluctant to open their farms becausethe level of concern expressed has been so personal.
"Only one side of the story has been presented and people haveformed views without having all the information or the important perspective ofthe farmer.
"Our Animal Welfare PolicyStatement articulates what animal welfare means to egg farmers and how theydeliver on that commitment in the way they farm.
"It is our hope that this, in conjunction with our communityengagement program, will go some way towards helping our industry tell ourstory about farming."
The policy addresses EFA’s position on animal welfare in relationto farming practices, animal welfare science, community consultation andeducation, animal protection legislation, enforcement and compliance, andconsumer choice.
Mr Dunn said he hoped these commitments would give the communitymore confidence in the industry which produces 100 million eggs each week andcontributes $1.8 billion to the economy annually.
"We are listening to concerns; we are improving sustainably, and wewant to continue giving consumers the choice to buy the egg that’s right forthem.
