Paul Kelly Gives Evidence to Parliament on Avian Influenza

On 29 November 2022, our Managing Director, Paul Kelly, gave evidence to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee as it examined the impact of the UK's severe avian influenza outbreak. Speaking alongside representatives of the British Poultry Council and British Trust for Ornithology, Paul described the effect the disease was having on Kelly Turkeys and on smaller seasonal poultry producers across the country. Our business had experienced three infected premises. Paul told MPs that at one farm an outbreak resulted in the loss of approximately 9,500 turkeys within a matter of days, representing a loss of around £700,000. He explained that the speed at which highly pathogenic avian influenza could kill a flock exposed a serious problem with the existing compensation arrangements, under which compensation was based on healthy birds remaining when government culling took place. The evidence also highlighted the implications for future Christmas turkey production. Our hatchery supplied about 30% of the fresh Christmas turkey market at the time, giving us direct contact with producers around the country. Paul said some affected farmers were questioning whether they could afford to rear another flock without either vaccination or a compensation scheme that better reflected the risks they faced. He argued for compensation to be assessed from the point at which an outbreak was reported and subsequently confirmed, while making clear that producers would prefer vaccination to relying on compensation. The Committee subsequently called on the Government to revise the compensation arrangements, describing the existing approach as “fundamentally unfair” because rapidly dying birds could leave producers with substantially reduced payments.