mr president the commission has created a huge crisis in the egg industry
like it or not one hundred million birds will still be in cages on d-day or should i say e-day
there is neither the cash nor the logistics to prevent this
insisting on the ruthless enforcement of its rules in a year's time from the comfort of an armchair may give the speaker a great feeling of satisfaction but it could seriously jeopardise the long-term health of the british egg sector
let us look at the practical implications
how do you remove and dispose of one hundred million hens in twenty-four hours
or how do you safely smash and dispose of eighty-three million eggs every day
on the assumption that you somehow succeed in either of these where will consumers turn for their eighty-three million daily eggs
to ukraine to india to argentina to brazil where all the eggs will have been laid in battery cages
do any of these countries have a reputation for high welfare standards
once this trade starts it will expand very rapidly by virtue of its competitive advantage
it will be very difficult to stop
it will completely undermine the efforts of colony egg producers in the uk
in effect we will export a large slice of our industry which has just made massive investments to stay compliant with eu rules
i believe that an intra-community trading ban is a complete non-starter
not only will it be impossible to police across open borders but it could be challenged by the wto
so the least bad solution and i say least bad is to allow temporary derogations to non-compliant producers with conditions attached
there are some naked images i enjoy looking at but i do not enjoy the visual image of lorry-loads of naked unstamped eggs leaving foreign battery cage units en route to the uk in twenty twelve
unstamped eggs are a gift to a fraudulent trader
we have learnt this the hard way in the uk
our uk solution is to mechanically stamp eggs with the code numbers that represent their method of production at the laying farm itself
this operation is proceeding on my own farm at this very moment and the machinery is reliable
the commission say it is far too difficult for them to organise the stamping of a special code on non-compliant eggs despite its obvious necessity
yes this is of course the same commission that is forcing uk sheep farmers to unnecessarily identify sheep individually with unreliable electronic equipment
what a glaring inconsistency
the least bad <unk> and i use that expression again is for the eu to insist that non-compliant member states spend their regional funds on stamping machines and also to pay for an inspectorate whose staff are nationals of compliant member states
this inspectorate will also visit packing stations and build up a database of the processors who use these battery cage eggs in their products
most uk retailers are keen to avoid trading in battery caged eggs after the deadline but they can only succeed in this if these eggs are properly identified
