Pacific Environment : Agriculture Sector – 2016 In Review

Growth of the Meat and Poultry Industries

2016 saw continual growth in the meat chicken industry across Australian. According to the ACMF, feed conversion improvements has seen a steady growth in meat chicken production in Australia no only in terms of more farms, but that less feed is used per bird to achieve the same final bird weight.

There has been a lot of talk about RSPCA management. This in simple terms has seen the stocking densities in sheds drop by around 20% over time. The lower density combined with improved feed conversion has led to odour emissions (as measured at many farms in Queensland and New South Wales) being lower than historical data.
Project work completed by Pacific Environment includes sites in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales in areas as diverse as Rathdowney, Griffith, and Blanchetown. These included farms ranging from 240,000 birds up to over 1 million birds.

As part of our work, our team also performed assessments on breeder and breeder rearer farms. These farm are part of the overall process, which produces chicken for the meat chicken farms. We also assessed a chicken abattoir in South East Queensland.

Geordie Galvin and Robin Ormerod were both involved in court appeals during 2016 for the agricultural sector, with Robin working on the Strathfield appeal near Tamworth, and Geordie working on a number of appeals within South East Queensland.