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E9 Poultry Network Live 2025: Growth, Optimism and Ambition
57 Plays27 days ago
In this episode, Tom Woolman and Tom Willings are joined by Jake Davies, editor of Poultry Network, to preview this year’s Poultry Network Live conference — taking place on 4 September at Harper Adams University.
Jake outlines this year’s theme — growth, optimism and ambition — and gives a behind-the-scenes look at what’s in store for delegates, including:
- A keynote from Professor David Hughes, exploring global protein trends and poultry’s competitive edge.
- A health and biosecurity session featuring Gordon Hickman OBE from APHA, covering avian influenza insights and Defra policy developments.
- A practical panel on expanding your poultry enterprise, with speakers from NatWest, Maelor Foods, Farmlay Eggs, and Morspan Construction.
- Afternoon sector-specific sessions — including broiler and laying hen topics, with a special mention for Vincent Beyer of Laying Hen Pros, bringing big-industry data expertise to egg production.
With lively discussion, insights into the speaker line-up, and a reminder on how to book tickets, this episode offers a great preview of what to expect from one of the UK poultry industry’s key events of the year.
📅 Poultry Network Live takes place on 4 September 2025. To attend, email graeme@poultry.network to reserve your ticket.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Poultry Network Live
00:00:15
Tom Woolman
Hello and welcome to the the Poultry Network podcast. Welcome back. I'm Tom Woolman.
00:00:21
Tom Willings
I'm Tom Willings.
00:00:22
Tom Woolman
And today, Tom, we are joined by the maestro himself, Jake Davis, who's going to have a quick chat with us about the about Poultry Network Live, which is coming up, and tell us about some of the speakers that we're going to have and some of the topics that are going to be discussed there. So welcome, Jake.
00:00:40
Tom Willings
It's a grand title.
00:00:41
Jake Davies
Thank you. Yeah.
00:00:43
Tom Willings
Grand title,
Theme of the Conference: Growth, Optimism, and Ambition
00:00:44
Tom Willings
Jake. What have you called it this year?
00:00:47
Jake Davies
Well, Poultry Network Live, as always is, but the the the theme, which every conference has to have a theme, is growth, optimism, and ambition.
00:00:56
Jake Davies
But yeah, that's kind of what we're going for.
00:00:57
Tom Woolman
and
00:00:58
Jake Davies
We want... Go on, Tom.
00:00:58
Tom Woolman
and and did did And did you put a lot of thought into which order you put those words in?
00:01:07
Jake Davies
Well, I've got them wrong a couple of times before this chat, so i would I'd be lying if I said yes.
00:01:10
Tom Woolman
OK.
00:01:11
Jake Davies
i think I think there's a general sentiment. There's a lot of crap going on constantly. I mean, journalists get the most of it because it's kind of your job to write about everything that's happening in the news constantly.
00:01:23
Jake Davies
Generally, the stuff that gets eyeballs on it or people talk about is negative. And I want a day where people can go and talk about how they're expanding their businesses, how they're improving the welfare the birds, how science and innovation is riddled through the poultry sector.
00:01:39
Jake Davies
And that's always been my ambition for what we do at Harper Adams. This is our fifth year. So, yeah, you know, it's a day I really look forward to. And I know both Toms will be there in various capacities as well.
00:01:50
Tom Willings
I love it too. Yeah, I think it'll be my third, maybe it's my fourth one, but as someone didn't go to university, I just walk into that theatre and love it.
00:01:52
Tom Woolman
Mm-hmm.
00:02:03
Tom Willings
And of course, in the many, many, many, many years since I might have gone to university, been into plenty of lecture halls, but it's just a fantastic place to spend a day listening to some brilliant people.
00:02:16
Tom Willings
And so who stands out for you? I mean, you've got already, you've got quite a lineup put together, but there's a couple of names on there that I'd definitely put out. But yeah, to you guys, I mean, who stands out?
Keynote: Global Outlook by Professor David Hughes
00:02:27
Tom Woolman
So yeah to me, we've got you've got the keynote address that's um that's that's Professor David Hughes, um who I've heard speak a number of times. um and Yeah.
00:02:38
Tom Woolman
And it's just he's ah he's a wonderful speaker, I guess, is the first thing to say. you know, he's a fantastic communicator. And um but he's also brilliant at looking at the big picture, looking at what's great about about poultry. You know, he's he really he's got a global outlook and he sees where ah demographic trends are going and and where poultry fits in with things. And he's just ah he's just a fascinating and engaging person to listen to.
00:03:04
Tom Willings
He's a wonderful raconteur, isn't he?
00:03:06
Tom Woolman
Mm. Mm.
00:03:07
Jake Davies
Yeah, he spoke at our conference a couple of years ago and was brilliant. He also spoke at the Southwest Chicken Association conference in April. And again, just sort blew me away with his, he can bring all of these big themes together about what's happening in food and how poultry, I mean, poultry meat, obviously, in the case in April, fits into all that.
00:03:27
Jake Davies
So, yeah, hopefully fits in with our theme well. I mean, the message from SWECA in April was we're in a good place in terms of where we sit in the food sector. So, yeah, So, yeah, I mean, again, going back to my super-duper theme of growth, optimism and ambition, you know, I can't think better person to open the day than Dr. Food, David Hughes.
00:03:48
Jake Davies
So, yeah, excited for that one.
00:03:51
Tom Woolman
And then you've also got Gordon Hickman coming along, Jake.
AI in Poultry: Insights by Gordon Hickman
00:03:55
Jake Davies
Yes, yeah, Gordon, I think, may well have spoken at every single time. event we've done at Harper. So probably this will be his fifth go.
00:04:07
Jake Davies
And again, Gordon is someone who, and it's not just our confidence, he is really, you know, as AI has become a bigger and bigger issue for the sector in the UK. He is someone who is engaged massively. And when you look at the bigger picture of government and even DEFRA in some ways, it's not always easy to get sense of what's happening, what they want, what they're doing.
00:04:26
Jake Davies
What Gordon does is he'll come out and he will say, this is what we've been working on. This is the bigger picture. This is what's happening in Europe at the moment. So, mean, it's timed by design in a way, but just before the AI season tends to kick off in autumn, we get a really insightful idea you know, one of the lead guys in DEFRA who are looking after Adrian Coenza, what they're seeing over the summer, what's happening abroad, because, of course, migratory bird patterns affect what's going to be happening in the UK that winter.
00:04:54
Jake Davies
you know, things like how policy is changing, vaccination coming in, is it not, what's going on? So a really good opportunity for any business owner, leader, person in the poultry sector to understand that possibly, you know, you could call it the biggest issue in biggest threat to the sector.
00:05:13
Jake Davies
A really good opportunity to hear what he's thinking and working on. So really pleased and grateful that he's coming back and speaking to us all again this year. So yeah, forward to that one
00:05:22
Tom Woolman
Yeah, it's fantastic timing in a um for a conference that's taking part at the beginning of September, I think, to to really yeah get everyone up to speed with with what they're facing into over the over the next few months.
Origins: Conference Beginnings During COVID-19
00:05:36
Tom Willings
I hope Gordon's read the read the the title of the conference and is going to come armed with ah bucket full of optimism, Jake.
00:05:44
Jake Davies
Yes, let's hope so.
00:05:46
Tom Woolman
So then one of the other sessions that we've got, Jake, going on is is a session on expanding your poultry business, I see. um Tell me a little bit more about that.
Expanding Poultry Businesses: Expert Panel
00:05:56
Jake Davies
Well, again, it's it's not something we've done specifically before, but the idea is obviously the the egg sector has had a ah reasonably good run. There a huge demand for space in the broiler sector at the moment.
00:06:08
Jake Davies
It's a bit of a minefield, the entire landscape of of expanding, as you know we did in last week. You know, that's one element of it. But what we wanted to do is bring in some experts, someone from a processor, someone from an egg packer.
00:06:23
Jake Davies
and We've got Ian Burrow from NatWest talking on the finance side of things.
00:06:28
Jake Davies
the idea of that section is if you're thinking about expanding your business, if going to into poultry for the first time, hopefully you'll get <unk> some some real informative and you know insights from but from the speakers there on that session. So really looking forward to that one as well.
00:06:43
Jake Davies
Yeah.
00:06:43
Tom Woolman
Yeah, because I...
00:06:43
Tom Willings
it's good It's a good sign to have the bank there, I have to say.
00:06:44
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:06:46
Tom Willings
I think having having Ian Burrow there is it is a sign of rude health for the for the industry, I ah suspect. Again, you know he he and um and all banks are are looking at our industry in the context of agriculture as a whole thinking, yeah, that's the horse to back at the moment.
00:07:01
Tom Willings
It's it's good for us.
00:07:04
Tom Woolman
yeah and then um And then you're following a format that you had that you had last year, Jake, where we're going to have um two separate sessions running in the afternoon, um one for the for the broiler sector and one for the egg sector running in in parallel that that are that are a bit more technical and specialised in their focus.
Technical Discussions: Afternoon Sessions
00:07:25
Jake Davies
Yeah. So the idea is, I mean, a big idea of the conference is that I work across both sides, chicken and egg, and always have done turkeys and geeks a little bit, but if you're an egg person or a broiler person, you don't always know what the other side's doing. So one of the things we always wanted to do is bring everyone together and you can learn from each sector because lots of commonalities and lots of differences as well.
00:07:45
Jake Davies
So that was a big part of it. But then we thought, why not split an element of the day so you can get really drilling to really technical stuff specific to each individual sector.
00:07:56
Jake Davies
So we did that last year and Tom Woolman, you were kind enough to sort of chair the broiler sector. ah side of things and I look after the egg side of things and yeah I think it worked well I think you get that balance of the things that are important to everyone or the things we can learn from each other in the morning and then in the afternoon a bit more specific about your particular circumstances or business so yeah
00:08:15
Tom Woolman
Yeah, and I'm very much looking forward to chairing the broiler session again. Thanks for that opportunity to to do that. It's something that i really enjoyed. And um yeah, we had some interesting discussion points last year, certainly not necessarily the things that you'll you'll hear at every at every conference. So um that's what we're trying to do, do something a little bit different, a little bit special.
00:08:39
Jake Davies
Yeah, and we've got, you know, I mean...
00:08:39
Tom Willings
Can I make special mention of of of Vincent in the laying? section in the afternoon.
Newcomers in Poultry: Vincent Baia's Perspective
00:08:46
Tom Willings
know he's a contact that I've brought to the party, but I have to say, I think the laying audience will find Vincent. His name Vincent Byer. His business is Laying Hen Pros. He's Dutch guy.
00:08:59
Tom Willings
And these he's not a paltry expert lifelong. He's spent the last of five or six years building his consultancy business, but his background is, I think, 28 years in Shell.
00:09:12
Tom Willings
And he's been a technical specialist, a global expert in, I think, three forums in Shell. So this is a guy who's got to the top of his industry through um analytics, data, kind of yeah know consistent measurement and um and and applied intellect. this is ah he's ah He's a really, really sharp guy.
00:09:35
Tom Willings
For my money, I've not seen anyone apply logic and data um analysis in the way that he does to to farms. And i'm um I'm really looking forward to being in the audience and and listening to what what he says and also seeing how how people people react. It's a clever guy.
00:09:55
Tom Woolman
well Well, I guess he must have said, well, I i work for Shell and Egg's got a Shell.
00:09:57
Jake Davies
Thanks.
00:10:00
Tom Woolman
You know, i can i can transition into that sector. But sounds he sounds like a guy that that's right on the money, which is exactly who we need to be hearing from at the moment.
00:10:09
Tom Willings
yeah if If the audience come forward with questions about artificial lift or fracking, he's the man.
00:10:17
Tom Woolman
Well, who knows? maybe Maybe in 2026, Jake, you'll yeah you'll also be running a yeah ah some sort of ah geology um oil stream as well. But um let's let's see how it goes this year with with eggs and and with poultry meat.
00:10:33
Tom Woolman
Good. So that's that's that's probably enough, really, to to to wrap up, really.
00:10:33
Jake Davies
Thank you. what
00:10:37
Tom Woolman
have we I don't think we've said the actual date of the conference, have we?
Logistics: Conference Date and Ticket Booking
00:10:40
Tom Woolman
It's um it's the 4th of September, isn't it?
00:10:42
Jake Davies
That's what I was going to mention.
00:10:44
Tom Woolman
Yeah, yeah. The important date. um And how do people attend, Jake? What's the process?
00:10:51
Jake Davies
Oh, you need to book a ticket in advance. and That date again is 4th of September. That's what I was going to say. But yeah, you need to book a ticket in advance. we We've got a fairly simple, old-fashioned process in that you just you just send us an email, we'll get in touch and we we'll sort your ticket out for you.
00:11:06
Jake Davies
So and grame Graham Lee is tending to look after ticket sales. His email is graham at poultry.network. and So just drop him an email. He'll get straight back to you as soon as he can.
00:11:17
Jake Davies
and all the There are sort of contact forms and things on the website. you can So paltry.network, you can look for the details. All our speakers as we announce them are on there. and But yeah, other than that, we're really looking forward to it.
00:11:29
Jake Davies
Hope to see you there, and whoever you are. And yeah, here's to another one.
00:11:35
Tom Woolman
Great. Thanks, Jake. Thanks, Tom.
00:11:37
Tom Willings
We'll see you there.