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EP26: Back for 2026: Welfare Policy, Poultry Politics and What Comes Next
66 Plays5 days ago
Tom Woolman and Tom Williams are back for 2026 with a quick New Year catch‑up (including Tom’s other life in the Backwood Redeemers… on accordion), then they dive into the biggest policy headlines that landed over the festive break.
This episode focuses on the government’s new animal welfare strategy (described as “the most ambitious in a generation”) and what it could mean for UK livestock — with a poultry‑first lens.
They also reflect on how the announcement was timed and packaged alongside other news, and why the media attention landed where it did.
Key topics:
• Egg sector: the direction of travel on colony systems, the future of infrared beak treatment, and the momentum behind in‑ovo sexing.
• Meat sector: how to interpret government language on moving away from fast‑growing broiler breeds, and the practical uncertainty for the supply chain.
• The big missing piece: trade. If UK standards tighten, how are imports handled, and can welfare ever be a meaningful lever in trade policy? (They discuss the view that WTO rules don’t treat welfare as a straightforward “distinguishing factor”.)
• Joined‑up policy: why welfare strategy, the National Food Strategy and farm profitability need to be hand‑in‑glove.
To close, they look ahead to 2026’s big unknowns - geopolitics (Ukraine/Russia) and what any shift could mean for commodities, energy and feed markets - with the usual reminder not to make purchasing decisions based on podcast chat.
Follow/subscribe for more weekly insight from across the poultry sector.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and New Year's Experiences
00:00:15
Tom Woolman
Hello and welcome back to the Poultry Network podcast. I'm Tom Woolman.
00:00:19
Tom Willings
And I'm Tom Williams and the very same to you.
00:00:21
Tom Woolman
Happy New Year, Tom.
00:00:24
Tom Willings
Did you have a good one?
00:00:25
Tom Woolman
had a very good, very good New Year. Yeah, very good. Saw lots of family um and tried to go out and tried to go around a few pubs on on New Year's Eve. um But I don't know what, whenever I turn on the radio, there's always someone from the hospitality industry moaning about how no one supports them. and But I'll tell you what, I was trying to go around a number of pubs in the town centre at at midnight trying to get a drink and they were all shutting up shop. And I thought, honestly, you guys, you you you don't know how good you've got it.
00:00:54
Tom Willings
There we go. I
Tom Williams' Band Involvement
00:00:54
Tom Willings
thought you were going to say that you couldn't get in because you were almost a celebrity. I know we've talked on the podcast about your, your kind of farming sideshow activities and and the sheep. Um, we won't go into that, but you've also got a musical, um, to your, ah your, your skillset and you play in a band. Um, so for anybody that isn't, isn't listening, uh, sorry, maybe that's everybody, but, uh, for anybody who hasn't heard that you are in a band, Tom, what's the name of the, of the band and what instrument do you play people, and people ought to know.
00:01:22
Tom Woolman
So the band is called the Backwood Redeemers um and and I play the accordion.
00:01:29
Tom Willings
yeah But fame and fortune
00:01:29
Tom Woolman
ah
Holiday Reflections and Farming News
00:01:30
Tom Willings
wasn't the reason.
00:01:31
Tom Willings
It wasn't the backward redeemers that kept you from ah getting getting into the book.
00:01:35
Tom Woolman
Well, wasn't. No, no, no. Although i i did end up in a pub between Christmas and New Year um playing with the band. So, yes, it's good at getting me out of the house and and and getting socialised. Yeah.
00:01:45
Tom Willings
Spot on, spot on.
00:01:46
Tom Woolman
How about yourself?
00:01:47
Tom Willings
Yeah, Walter Wall family. I've had a wonderful Christmas, actually. Yeah, we've had we've had people in for what feels like 10 days straight. um So, yeah, different different sides of the family, different all sorts of generations.
00:02:02
Tom Willings
It's been ah it's been great fun, but ready ready to get back to it.
00:02:03
Tom Woolman
Thank you.
00:02:05
Tom Willings
And there's been a fair amount of news while we've been away. It
Government's Animal Welfare Strategy
00:02:09
Tom Willings
feels as though, you know, almost before the lights were turned off pre-Christmas, the headlines were full of farming activity.
00:02:17
Tom Willings
it's been ah
00:02:17
Tom Woolman
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:18
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:02:18
Tom Woolman
I tell you what, that whoever is doing PR for the government really knows how to, um you know, sneak certain subjects under the radar because I just thought the whole timing of the um of the changes with with the IHT were just they were just
00:02:33
Tom Willings
Yeah.
00:02:35
Tom Woolman
Well, they were completely to the government's favour, really, because at any other time of the year, if they'd announced this, then they would have been drawn a huge amount of flack from the opposition parties, you know, from the public saying, look, the government is you you turned again.
00:02:46
Tom Willings
When it... when is the best time to announce a u-turn oh it's got to be christmas eve or whatever it was yeah
00:02:49
Tom Woolman
um
00:02:54
Tom Woolman
Yeah, yeah. so But also they paired it with um an announcement on a new animal welfare strategy, which ah quite a few of these things have been signposted in their manifesto, hadn't it?
00:03:05
Tom Woolman
So some of them weren't necessarily a big surprise, but it was it was really trying to draw together lots and lots of different elements with farmed animals, companion animals, wild animals, and and really putting them into what other politicians might might call ah ah big, beautiful bill, something that people can really get excited about and warm the cockles.
00:03:24
Tom Woolman
um
00:03:24
Tom Willings
you've you've been You've been doing the the work um over the week, the the big, beautiful bill. That's ah that
Animal Welfare Strategy Details
00:03:30
Tom Willings
thats Trumpian.
00:03:31
Tom Woolman
Well, even and I know and I noticed they put on the press release, they put Joanna Lumley meeting the Secretary of State and Joanna Lumley, just wherever she is, she draws attention to the subject and and people.
00:03:32
Tom Willings
Congratulations.
00:03:42
Tom Willings
She gets stuff done.
00:03:43
Tom Woolman
She does. She does.
00:03:44
Tom Willings
She does get stuff done.
00:03:44
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:03:45
Tom Willings
Yeah, no, what was it? Emma Reynolds called it the most ambitious animal welfare strategy in a generation. And as you say, it is pretty far reaching. So um if folks have not sort of read the the fine detail, this is a strategy that um over the course of the next four years, the government are going to work out how they're going to enforced and enforced rather and um and set into law policies that will protect farm that farmed animals but also companion um and wild animals so the the the media ran with
00:04:20
Tom Willings
um headlines focusing on trail hunting that's always pretty good click click bait isn't it um puppy farming um but buried within the text were um some pretty significant changes for the whole of the livestock farming industry um and included within that poultry so um
00:04:24
Tom Woolman
Mm-hmm.
00:04:39
Tom Woolman
Yeah, and certainly I would have said included in those headlines were it effectively ah an end or an end in sight for cages and for confinement. And the two things they
Future of Pig and Poultry Farming
00:04:49
Tom Woolman
they focused on were farrowing crates for the pigs, which is still 92 percent of ah of of pigs in indoor systems are farrowed in farrowing crates.
00:04:53
Tom Willings
Yep.
00:05:01
Tom Woolman
um And the other one was was the end of colony systems. um
00:05:05
Tom Willings
Exactly right. Yeah.
00:05:07
Tom Woolman
So.
00:05:09
Tom Willings
What's what's not clear what's not clear in the in the document is just how long the ticking timer remains. So as I mentioned, the the end of December, 2030 is the deadline by which the government have given itself You know, the time to consult and then to, you know, bring forward exactly what the laws of the land will will say. But how long beyond that um the industry will have to, you know, invest and adapt um remains to be seen. Beyond the changes, just focusing on the laying hen sector, and we'll turn to to the meat sector in a moment. and And for anyone listening who wants to hear about changes in in the pork industry or or cattle, maybe there'll be ah ah a fleeting reference, but we'll we'll keep it poultry.
00:05:54
Tom Willings
um But yeah beyond the the colony cage inevitable ban were the signposting of the end of infrared beak treatment and also um encouragement towards some selection process of male from female in in OVO.
00:06:13
Tom Willings
So a reference to day zero sexing, um which...
00:06:13
Tom Woolman
Mm-hmm.
00:06:18
Tom Willings
ah which I think ought to give industry confidence, to be honest, because I think that represents a pretty sensible um kind of outcome or ambition.
00:06:28
Tom Willings
I think there is a danger that if we all rush towards Zenovo sexing at day nine, day 10, then many, many questions are going to remain. There's still a lot
Meat Chicken Breeds and Trade Policies
00:06:38
Tom Willings
of scope for for further improvement in the technology, whether that's accuracy or or speed.
00:06:45
Tom Willings
And um yeah, day day zero, feels you know as though that's ah you know a pretty finite um line. So they're they're the they're the things in the egg sector. In the meat sector, it's more vague, Tom, isn't it?
00:06:59
Tom Woolman
It is a bit more vague, but um I suppose for background, yeah, that you have to remember that the government's, I guess, come out of the back of ah of ah of a ah pretty big court case last year where they were taken they were taken to court effectively by the Humane League over...
00:07:15
Tom Woolman
um you know, the legislation that surrounds fast growing broilers, um which the Humane League lost twice, although you wouldn't believe that read in there reading their press statements.
00:07:25
Tom Woolman
um But effectively, yeah, the government has been on the ropes a little bit on this issue. um And it's interesting to see how, I suppose, on the one hand, they are trying to um placate and and show some...
00:07:40
Tom Woolman
and show that they're working with some of the some of the ah the outcomes that the that the welfare groups are looking for, while also, i i think, trying to do things in a very careful and considered way. So, um yeah, they they actually came out and in the strategy, they they said that they do support voluntary efforts to move away from fast growing meat chickens breeds.
00:08:00
Tom Woolman
Supports, I don't really know what that means. You know, is that is that a pat on the back? Is that is that ah ah a small check that's written out by the Secretary of State? I don't know. I mean, I can't really imagine them supporting any any big sustained move to slower growing breeds because of the flux that the industry and is is in at the moment because of the move to 30 kilos across across the standard broiler chain.
00:08:21
Tom Woolman
um But I just thought it was interesting that that the government... came out and and and and effectively said what they support, you know, and and that they actually, if they did have a choice, then they would pick a side, and this is the side that it would be.
00:08:34
Tom Willings
Mm-hmm.
00:08:34
Tom Woolman
I'm not sure in practice how that's actually going to, um how that's going to play out or how how significant that'll be, but...
00:08:40
Tom Willings
I suspect they don't know either, but they felt whether this was the Joanna Lumley effect again, I don't know, but they felt that they really couldn't put a welfare strategy together without mentioning um the the meat side of the industry as well as the the laying side.
00:08:45
Tom Woolman
Mm,
00:08:52
Tom Woolman
mm, mm.
00:08:53
Tom Willings
I guess the the the biggest change in all of this is is is yet to be discussed. And it's, um you know, what's the trade policy behind it Because we can have a debate about whether these things are the right policies or not.
00:09:04
Tom Woolman
Mm-hmm.
00:09:08
Tom Willings
And the truth is, although, you know, many, Many farms might not like the ugly reminder that actually the UK is not at the forefront of animal welfare when you come to kind of comparing all of the different specifications and the and the the rules that we that we meet.
00:09:26
Tom Willings
we we are
00:09:27
Tom Woolman
No, there are there are lots of other European countries and maybe arguably smaller and more affluent countries, but there's a lot of countries that have yeah really transformed the way that they're doing in poultry production, whether it's that's in egg or in meat um in the past couple of years.
00:09:41
Tom Willings
Exactly.
00:09:41
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:09:41
Tom Willings
So we're to a degree playing catch up, keeping up with the Joneses, however you want to describe it. um Whether there is a European influence in this as well, because that does feel like there's a little momentum growing about, um you know, more equivalence for greater long term.
00:09:59
Tom Willings
um you know market participation in Europe, and and there'll be all sorts of debates again as to whether that's a step in the right direction or we ought to just be masters of our own destiny. But if you put all of that to one side, I think the the big issue is, are these standards going to be applied to the food that then comes in to balance our our books, because, you know, we are heavily, heavily reliant on um on imports. And, you know, there isn't going to be a farmer of any species in the land saying that they and they want to see anything other than the highest possible welfare standards for the animals in their
00:10:37
Tom Willings
in their care. um But at the same time, they don't want to be forced to take increases in in in cost, invest in their in their business, um and then find that the consumer continues to enjoy um the choice of having much, much cheaper product available on the shelves, sourced from wherever it might be to whatever those standards might might might be, and therefore undermining their market.
00:10:39
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:11:04
Tom Willings
And
00:11:05
Tom Woolman
and And the strategy does talk about this a little bit. If I could quote a little bit, it it does say that it there is a recognition of the divergence between UK and global standards on animal welfare. So so the strategy even signposts to the fact that they can see that that this is this is drawing us further apart from... OK, it might be keeping us closer to Europe, but it's it's moving us away from an awful lot of those other countries around the world that do export. Or, you know, Ukraine. Ukraine's not in the EU, is it?
00:11:31
Tom Woolman
um and it's And it's not likely to join the EU any time soon by the way things are going.
00:11:35
Tom Willings
no
00:11:36
Tom Woolman
um and And the strategy also says they will take steps to protect the most sensitive sectors um from this imbalance of trade. But again, i don't know how you define what is the most sensitive of sectors, because that to me seems to be, you're talking very specifically about a very specific thing there where I really can't see, um you know, the poultry meat sector or the egg sector fitted into either of those boxes.
00:12:01
Tom Woolman
Yeah. So the moment, it just looks like there's a lot of words there and and and not a lot of intent when it comes to trade.
00:12:08
Tom Willings
Yeah, and i and I wouldn't fancy the job of trying to unpick it in four years time either, because those trade policies has got to have got to come in aligned with the um you know the ultimate timeframes by which there needs to be reinvestment and and adaptation in in the um the practices on on farm.
00:12:30
Tom Willings
um But, you know, it's going to be far more difficult to get the trade policies right than it is to to say, here's the welfare standards that that we ought to be producing too. And, um
Trade Policies and Animal Welfare Challenges
00:12:40
Tom Willings
you know, if you take it at its most extreme and say, well, if it's not produced to an equivalent standard and ah to to our shores here, it's not coming in, we we're going to be pretty hungry.
00:12:50
Tom Willings
Because there's an awful lot of food that is coming in to our country that we rely on to feed every mouth in the in in the nation.
00:12:50
Tom Woolman
Hold on.
00:12:58
Tom Willings
That, um you know, if you suddenly turn the tap off by way of, um you know, animal welfare suddenly become a distinguishing factor. And I'll come back to that in a moment. You know, then we we are we're going to be short of food.
00:13:10
Tom Willings
So there has to, i think this... The strategy on animal welfare needs to be absolutely hand in glove with the national food strategy.
00:13:21
Tom Willings
And I think it's ah you know it's ought to be the buck always stops at the government, doesn't it? they They need to be telling us what we need to be eating and where we need to be eating it, so sourcing it from if life is heading down the route of making production domestically that much more difficult, because you know really that that feels like that's been the direction that they've been trying to take farming in for years.
00:13:43
Tom Willings
for a very very long time i'll just come back to the point about distinct welfare being a distinguishing factor i believe and someone will come and tell us if we're wrong but i believe that wto rules say that animal welfare is not a um distinguishing factor in uh in trade policy you cannot outlaw
00:14:00
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:14:03
Tom Woolman
Yeah.
00:14:05
Tom Willings
a trade on the basis that it was produced to a different welfare standard. you know There are food safety standards, animal disease standards, etc., which is why vaccination of iPath AI is such a difficult topic um because it has trade policy implications. But welfare standards, things like stocking density, breed selection, is not
00:14:29
Tom Woolman
And that's where it's different, isn't it? You're right. you could You can have a PCR test and you can tell if you've got a disease or or you haven't. or um but But welfare, much as, of course, welfare is underpinned um with with a huge amount of scientific research. It's not, yes, it's it's it's not the same ah black and white research.
00:14:49
Tom Woolman
type of type of decision, is it? And and I can understand. There'd be some countries that you'd go to where they would they they just wouldn't be on the same page as us when we're talking about animal welfare. you know They'd listen to this podcast and they just couldn't get their head around, you know, why why these why are these crazy Europeans going off in this in this in this mad direction?
00:15:01
Tom Willings
scratch their heads and go what yeah
00:15:08
Tom Woolman
um Yeah, so... it will be It will be interesting to see how this all comes out. and But
00:15:08
Tom Willings
um
National Food Strategy and Future Speculations
00:15:15
Tom Woolman
ah and i always I also wonder, you referenced the ah the National Food Strategy ah previously, and that was such a great document. It was such a brilliant exercise.
00:15:24
Tom Woolman
It came out with so many recommendations that are when I look around at, um I suppose, both, ordinary citizens, if you could if you could deem it that, and and the farming sector itself and and people involved in food and nutrition and social policy all looked at this document and thought, this is a really good document. And what has the government actually done with it?
00:15:45
Tom Willings
Mm-hmm.
00:15:45
Tom Woolman
Of course, the Conservative government at that time and and now the Labour government. it hasn't really gone anywhere. And that was ah that was a really good piece of piece of strategy there. and And so, like with this document, there's an awful lot of intent in there. There's an awful lot of bold statements.
00:16:02
Tom Woolman
But as you say, where will where will we be with this in four years' time? I don't know. I think this might just be um a little bit of a plication to voters and to other people. Just, you know, here we are. Here's some good news from the government for a change.
00:16:19
Tom Willings
I think the other policy that look could go on the reading list will be Minette Batter's farm profitability review.
00:16:26
Tom Woolman
Mm-hmm.
00:16:26
Tom Willings
And you you think, you know, food strategy, farm profitability, um and and welfare strategy, you know, they, again, they all should be aligned as ah as as much as possible.
00:16:38
Tom Willings
So that's definitely a topic that we ought to revisit in in future episodes, Tom.
00:16:43
Tom Woolman
Yeah, yeah. We'll get Minette on if we can. and she says She's an incredibly busy woman, isn't she, particularly now? She's going to be sitting in the House of Lords and she'll be getting involved with all sorts of other interesting um subjects that aren't related to agriculture in the slightest, which I'm sure she'd she'd be she'd be very good at.
00:17:00
Tom Willings
should be fantastic. Yeah.
00:17:02
Tom Woolman
no Very good.
00:17:03
Tom Willings
Very good.
00:17:05
Tom Woolman
Well... Good discussion. Let's see how 2026 goes. any Any big predictions for the year ahead? you want to Do you want to nail any colours to the mast at this stage?
00:17:14
Tom Willings
Oh, it's ah it's yeah it's ah it's a bit early for that, I would say. It's a bit early for that. Yeah, no, I'll i'll keep my i'll keep my crystal ball um under wraps until at least the beginning of November.
00:17:28
Tom Woolman
Yeah. I suppose what I'm quite interested in is seeing where ah international policy is going with Ukraine and with Russia. And we're all aware of the huge impact that the outbreak of that war had on global commodity markets and on...
00:17:43
Tom Woolman
inflation food inflation and and general inflation. And I'm interested to see if if the Russia-Ukraine war is is resolved this year in whatever form that takes, what impact does that then have on on global trade? I know it's it's not going to be a ah sudden sharp one, but is it is it going to...
00:18:02
Tom Woolman
Is it going to release things and make things possible that that weren't possible in the past? You know, what happens to to Russia? is Is Russia rehabilitated at all into, you know, into the world order? um Because Russia is, yeah, is ah is a huge um commodity powerhouse, I suppose.
00:18:18
Tom Woolman
You know, not so much with various other technologies, but when you're looking at feed markets, when you're looking at um when you're looking at gas and all these other things.
00:18:24
Tom Willings
Gas. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:18:26
Tom Woolman
So that's what I've got my eye on. um And I suppose also just keeping an eye on on feed markets. I'm wondering how much lower things can go, really. I know soy has picked up a little bit, but um I'm just waiting for it. At some point, something's going to happen, isn't it? And and prices are going to take off again.
00:18:44
Tom Willings
A China buying.
00:18:45
Tom Woolman
Hmm.
00:18:47
Tom Willings
That's normally the trigger, isn't it? You know, you, you, you reach a ah floor or perceived floor and China come in and come in strong. So, uh, yeah, anyway, martin I'm, I'm off, I'm off topic.
00:18:59
Tom Willings
There'll be, uh, there'll be people screaming at the radio going, shut up. You bald idiot.
00:19:03
Tom Woolman
we should say We should say no one should make any decisions regarding purchasing of raw materials based on um anything that we say in this podcast.
00:19:04
Tom Willings
You don't know what you're talking about. Yeah.
00:19:11
Tom Willings
Yeah. Quite, quite good.
00:19:12
Tom Woolman
Yeah. Great.
00:19:14
Tom Willings
Until next time, Tom.
00:19:16
Tom Woolman
All right.
00:19:16
Tom Willings
Yeah, good to see you.
00:19:17
Tom Woolman
Bye for now.
00:19:17
Tom Willings
Bye-bye.