February 19, 2009
UK poultry farmers worry on tightening GM-free feed supplies
The UK's poultry industry has called for an urgent rethink of the GM-free policy, warning that it could soon be impossible to produce chickens with GM-free feed.
Supplies of GM-free soy could dry up as soon as November this year, leaving British producers unable to meet supermarket standards, according to Charles Bourns, poultry board chairman of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).
Bourns said while a small amount of GM-free feed could still be available from a few supplies by then, its scarcity will drive prices up and add about 5 percent per bird to the cost of production.
Bourns explained that the industry is not pushing for the growing of GM crops in the UK, but to purchase GM soy from other countries.
Other livestock sectors use GM soy and the poultry industry has hurt itself by committing to being non-GM, but the sector will struggle if the non-GM policy continues, Bourns said.