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Family chicken farms face super chopping block
18 Mar 2003
NSW Central Coast chicken farming contributes a billion dollars to the local economy yet many farmers are facing extinction, with the New Zealand conglomerate ProTen putting forward a plan to create "super chicken farms" in the state. These super farms, capable of producing 10 million chickens a year, could bring about the demise of family-run small-scale farms.
One super farm proposed for the Hunter Valley could take over up to 40 farms in that area and on the Central Coast between 10 and 15 family-run operations could go, said NSW Contract Poultry Group chairman Shaun Rodger. All existing contracts end in 2004 and we expect to see a 30-40 per cent decrease in the number of farmers on the Coast, he stated.
Poultry farming is by far the largest agricultural industry on the Central Coast, with Mangrove Mountain and Somersby the main farming areas.
ProTen has put its proposals for super chicken farms to the state Planning Minister. The company already has an operation in Griffith, which it bought from Bartter Steggles, and claims that its super farms won't take business away from local farmers.
The Daily Telegraph, Central Coast Extra, 18/3/03, page 5.
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