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Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs An Roinn Talmhaíochta, Comhshaoil agus Gnóthaí Tuaithe Depairtment o' Fairmin, Environment an' Kintra Matthers

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  • Poultry Business Development Groups look to future

    Date published: 24 January 2019

    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.

    Notes to editors:

    1. The department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the department’s internal records management system. The department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The department’s Privacy Policy is available on our website.
    2. Follow DAERA on Twitter and Facebook.
    3. All media enquiries to DAERA Press Office, pressoffice.group@daera-ni.gov.uk or tel: 028 9052 4619.

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