On 10th September the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that the EU Commission has extended by one year its organic poultry feed and organic pullet exceptional permissions (derogations).

This is good news for the majority of the organic poultry sector who are keen to balance good nutrition, excellent welfare and optimal performance. The derogations enable poultry farmers to include 5% of non organic materials in their poultry feeds, and rear pullets for egg production in a conventional manner, allowing the birds to convert to becoming fully organic at the start of their time in their laying houses.

The reasons for the further extension of the exceptional permissions are:

1. Feeds – no new organic raw materials have been found which can provide the essential amino acid components of protein, that are available in the approved list of raw materials, within the 5% of the diet that is allowed to be non-organic

2. Pullets – the direction of travel has been for the organic sector to rear `fully organic pullets’, but to achieve this, there is a considerable lead time to find sufficient new, small scale rearing capacity on newly designated organic land. The authorising authority will need to provide 3-5 years of notice to effect that for the organic pullet sector.

For more detailed information on the background of these two organic derogations and why they have been necessary, please read our previous article on the subject by clicking here.

The extensions are welcome as their removal would have serious consequences for the welfare of organic poultry in the UK as well as challenging the viability of organic poultry production.

For more information please contact a member of the team by calling 01962 764 555 or by email.