Study Trip of Cage-Free Eggs Producers from Le Gouessant to the UK

FRANCE - Le Gouessant, a French cooperative based in Bretagne, France is one of the main players in the French egg market with 950 million eggs sold per year, from which 35% are produced in cage free systems.
calendar icon 4 November 2016
clock icon 3 minute read

A commission of cage free eggs producers regularly meets up in order to take part in the decisions concerning their activities. NOVOGEN and Novoponte, the NOVOGEN distributor in France, invited this commission to discover the cage free egg market in the UK. The group was accompanied by Pascal Frey and Loïc Hervé from Novoponte and Guénaël Guillaume from NOVOGEN. Tom Barron, NOVOGEN distributor in UK and Ireland, warmly welcomed the group and organised the visits.

The first day was dedicated to free range farm visits in the county of Shropshire. The farms visited had a capacity of 70,000 and 80,000 hens and were using the NOVOgen BROWN breed. The UK farmers appreciate this breed for its good production and well adapted behaviour to their cage free production systems. One of the main differences observed by the French farmers group is the size of the farms in the UK which is much bigger than the usual free range farms in France.

The discussions between the French and British farmers were enriching for all of them. They allowed comparing the specificities of the production system and organisation of the market between the two countries.

The next day the group visited Oaklands Farm Eggs packing station, one of the biggest and most modern packing stations in Europe with a capacity of 300,000 eggs per hour. It is directly supplied by 1.6 million layers belonging to the company and several contracted farms.

After this visit, the group took the direction of London to enjoy a very nice last evening in England. After a tour through the city, the group had a nice dinner in a typical English pub. This trip, which also allowed strengthening relationships, was very appreciated by all the participants.

Ludmila Starostina

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