The U.K. poultry sector is enjoying a period of stability and confidence, which has resulted in a surge of investment, according to Farmers Weekly. One of the factors contributing to this positive development is the fact that consumers appear to be hungry for poultry products.
Demand for poultry has been on the rise and consumption is set to increase further, with poultry predicted to account for the majority of meat consumption by the end of this year. By comparison, two decades ago poultry products accounted for just one-third of the U.K. meat market.
According to Farmers Weekly, consumers are attracted to poultry mostly because of the fact that it is affordable. Poultry has recorded the lowest price increase rate among 35 food product categories in the past 20 years.
John Reed, agriculture director at Cargill Meats Europe, said that the market still has the potential to grow, so businesses are looking to increase production and invest in capacity expansions. Cargill itself has decided to expand production at its processing plant in Hereford and take its capacity from 1.7 million birds a week up to 2 million.
But even though the market offers excellent opportunities for growth, investments take careful planning and proactive thinking. A common practice in recent years is to mix poultry farming with cropping, so that poultry manure can be used instead of fertilizer.
