ABOVE: The majority of impacts arise from feed production, chicken meat processing and the grow-out phase for the birds. The following was taken from the CSIRO research paper by MA Copley and SG Wiedemann from Integrity Ag and Environment and can be read in full at publish.csiro.au/an/pdf/AN22230 The environmental sustainability of industries and food products…
ABOVE: Danone successfully achieved 100 percent cage-free production throughout its global business and provides the foreword for the EggTrack report. More companies are making global cage-free egg commitments, according to the sixth annual EggTrack report by Compassion in World Farming released recently. Compassion in World Farming is the leading international farm animal welfare charity, campaigning…
Applications for the 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award and Acceleration Grant have been extended until Wednesday November 16, 2022. With many parts of the country impacted by devastating floods, AgriFutures Australia made the decision to extend applications for the two programs to ensure women across the country have the opportunity to submit their applications. AgriFutures…
In 2022, the Australian chicken meat industry tasked AgriFutures Australia and its Chicken Meat Program with commissioning and managing the industry’s first materiality assessment. The materiality assessment aimed to show which topics – issues, risks and opportunities – were of greatest importance to the industry and its stakeholders, and to inform sustainability efforts across the…
Wild birds come into contact with backyard chicken flocks more frequently than people realise, creating a pathway for pathogens to transmit back and forth, according to new research from the University of Georgia in the US. Such pathways increase the risk for spill-over events that can threaten the health of all these groups – wild…
A chicken processing plant needed aeration to reduce odours associated with its wastewater treatment system. aerators The plant had a large 350,000-litre tank with in-flows exceeding four megalitres per day. The owners also wanted a system that was easy to maintain and safe for operators. Engineers at the plant selected a Venturi aeration system that…
Leaders from Australia’s livestock industries have witnessed how travellers to and from countries such as Indonesia are exposed to more than 20 biosecurity touch points, enhancing the biosecurity wall protecting Australia from exotic animal diseases, according to a press release from Australia’s meat sector, including Meat and Livestock Australia. The behind-the-scenes inspection of Sydney’s International…
After seven long years in development, Australia’s poultry standards and guidelines document has been published and includes some welcome – and long overdue – recommendations for improvements to the welfare of hundreds of millions of birds. The standards are yet to be endorsed by state and territory agriculture ministers and ideally, will underpin state and…
Spotty liver disease is an emerging disease in extensively housed poultry. It’s most commonly seen in free range layer hens but has also been reported in broiler breeders. The signs of disease are variable, ranging from low bird mortality with minimal impact on production to a sudden onset of significant mortality with a reduction in…
Alltech has released data from a new meta-analysis – published in Poultry Science – that demonstrates the impacts of mycotoxins on broiler productivity and the positive effect of yeast cell wall extract supplementation during a mycotoxin challenge on the performance, livability and environmental sustainability of broiler production. The first study of its kind in boiler…