2120 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

APPENDIX 1: MEMBER STATE REPORTSThis general trend does mask differences according to system. Whilst structural change in the cagedsector is increasing consolidation, the growth in alternative systems is applying pressure the otherway as alternative systems are typically of a much smaller scale than caged systems. This can bereadily appreciated by considering data on the 261 producers contracted to Deans. Figure A1.83shows the significant difference in scale between caged production and alternative systems,particularly free range and organic.100%90%80%Percentage of flocks contracted to Deans70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%Cage Free Range Barn Organic Total0-24,999 25,000-49,999 50,000-99,999 100,000-249,999 250,000-499,999 500,000-999,999 1,000,000+Figure A1.83: Production size classes for Deans producers (2003)Source: Deans Foods Limited and Agra CEAS Consulting calculations.Data from Deans is considered to be representative of the commercial sector in the UK as Deansaccount for a significant percentage of total eggs packed and also illustrates some other useful points:314whilst 50% of the laying hens held by Deans contracted producers are in caged systems, theseaccount for just 5% of total producers with an average flock size of 374,500;84% of producers operate a free range system and these account for 35% of total layers at anaverage flock size of 14,437 laying hens; the average flock size in barn systems is 48,034 and that in organic systems 14,046; just over three quarter (77%) of producers contracted to Deans have only free range flocks; 11%have only organic flocks; 3% only barn flocks and 2% only caged flocks. The remaining 7% havemixtures, most commonly free range and barn followed by free range and organic and then bycage and free range.Whilst the majority of commercial caged egg production in the UK is carried out by specialistproducers, or at least producers for whom the egg enterprise is the most important economically,