Battery cage eggs set to be phased out in WA by 2032

Battery cage eggs appear set to be phased out in WA by 2032 — four years sooner than a new national deadline confirmed on Thursday. Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt met with his state and territory counterparts in Perth on Thursday where the group locked in previously floated plans to end caged egg production across Australia by 2036 at the latest. Announcing an agreement had been reached on new “animal welfare standards” for the poultry industry, Mr Watt said individual jurisdictions would choose how quickly they implemented the new policy. WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said caged egg production in WA was already declining, with only five “traditional battery cage” producers still operating in the State. “Based on the age of the infrastructure and the national standards and guidelines, WA could well be out of battery caged eggs by 2032,” Ms Jarvis said. “We will work with industry but my anticipation is that… 2032 will probably be the end date.” The Commercial Egg Producers Association of WA has been pushing for the deadline to be set at 2046 and last year described any attempt to phase out battery egg production within a decade as “unobtainable, unachievable and unaffordable”. “We’ve already got a situation of empty shelves in the supermarkets, and to take away all the cage eggs over time, without any assistance to build new facilities, is going to be catastrophic for consumers,” President Ian Wilson said last September. Mr Watt disputed Opposition claims that removing battery eggs — which make up around a third of the market currently — would drive up the price of the pantry staple. “We’ve actually obtained modelling in the process of coming up with these (new) standards which shows that even as a result of these changed standards, the average egg consumer will be paying about $1.51 more per year,” he said. “We’re not talking about $15 (cartons) of eggs. Those figures have no credibility and the politicians that are out there sprouting them are just trying to scare people.” Ms Jarvis she had met with WA’s commercial egg producers and her “understanding” was that four of the five remaining battery cage operators had plans to move into “other production systems”. However, she acknowledged that “transition is hard” and that “people will be displaced”. “Change management is a whole skill set,” Ms Jarvis said. “I know that people, particularly in the agriculture sector, sometimes feel like they’re facing a barrage of changes but I’m confident that we will work through that.” The new welfare standards will not prevent farmers from caging chickens altogether but will drastically reduce the number of animals that can be confined together in a given space. “The idea is that where farmers continue to wish to use some form of cages for poultry and for egg production, basically, they will provide for additional space and environmental enrichment for chickens,” Mr Watt said. “And it’s really about making sure that there’s not quite as many chickens crammed into cages as what we’ve seen in past years.”