2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS TO KEEP LAYING HENSAppendix 1: Member State reportsA1.1. AustriaA1.1.1. OverviewThe Austrian egg production sector is characterised by the fact that in comparison with a number ofother EU Member States the average size of unit is relatively small. It is also noteworthy that anumber of Austrian Länder have already introduced and implemented bans on all caged productionand the Federal Government has now also adopted a cage ban from 2009. The overall share of thecommercial laying hen flock in alternative production systems is relatively high at 28%. The level ofconcentration in the sector is relatively low and a substantial proportion of output is marketed byproducer co-operatives.A1.1.2. Egg productionAustria’s total egg production amounts to some 1.47 bn eggs from a laying flock of some 5.8 mnlaying hens. At the time of the last census in 1999 there were 89,900 producers with laying hensalthough 99.2% of these producers held less than 1,000 hens. Approximately 1.5 mn hens areestimated to be in flocks of less than 100 birds which produce eggs largely for consumption on farmor direct sale. This output is not recorded.Table A1.1: Structure of laying hen production1979 1995 1999Producers with Producers Stock Producers Stock Producers Stocklaying hens No % head % No % head % No % head %1 - 1000 233.1 99.7 3,830 53.3 105.3 99.5 2,068 34.8 89.2 99.2 1,939 28.61001 - 5000 0.5 0.2 1,176 16.4 0.4 0.4 1,074 18.1 0.5 0.6 1,220 18.05001 - 10000 0.1 0.0 492 6.9 0.1 0.1 698 11.8 0.1 0.1 951 14.010001 - 20000 0.0 0.0 500 7.0 0.0 0.0 502 8.5 0.1 0.1 968 14.320001 - 30000 0.0 0.0 417 5.8 0.0 0.0 311 5.2 0.0 0.0 423 6.230001 - and over 0.0 0.0 764 10.6 0.0 0.0 1,284 21.6 0.0 0.0 1,285 18.9Total 233.7 100.0 7,179 100.0 105.8 100.0 5,937 100.0 89.9 100.0 6,786 100.0Source: Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and ForestryAs is indicated above, Austria’s egg production industry is characterised by the large number ofrelatively small-scale production units. The average number of laying hens per unit is now estimatedto average 3,000 having risen from an average of approximately 750 per holder in the mid 1990s.Since accession a degree of specialisation has occurred with a considerable number of farmersabandoning beef and particularly pig production and concentrating on laying hens alone. Productionstructures tend to be more specialised and concentrated in the East of the country while in thepredominantly grassland Länder of western Austria (Tirol, Vorarlberg and Salzburg) egg productionstill more frequently occurs on units with other livestock.107