UK poultrymeat self-sufficiency fell from 96% in 2020 to 83% in 2024 despite rising output, with the NFU warning that planning barriers are preventing producers from meeting growing demand.
The union’s report, Ready to Grow: Unlocking British Farming’s Economic Potential, identifies strong demand for affordable protein as an opportunity to expand domestic poultrymeat production.
See also: Planning bottlenecks threaten poultry growth as egg sector warned over oversupply
But it says growth has slowed as new shed capacity has stalled in the planning system. The NFU argues that poultry businesses have both the ambition and finance to expand, but investment is being held back by barriers to developing the infrastructure they need.
Demand outpaces poultrymeat production
The report’s long-term comparison covers 1995 to 2024, using five-year rolling averages of production and demand volumes from Defra’s Agriculture in the United Kingdom dataset to smooth out short-term variations.
On this basis, poultrymeat production increased by 53%, while demand grew by 64.6%. Self-sufficiency consequently fell from 94% to 87%.
The NFU says these averages mask the sharper recent deterioration shown by the annual figures, with self-sufficiency reaching 83% in 2024 even as output increased.
Egg production shows scope for recovery
Egg production increased by 22% over the report’s long-term comparison period, against demand growth of 30.3%. On the same five-year-average basis, self-sufficiency declined from 96% to 89%.
However, the report identifies a more positive trend since 2015, with production growth outpacing consumption and moving the UK back towards self-sufficiency, although still below 1990s levels.
The NFU presents this as evidence that domestic egg production can increase to meet growing demand.
Different profitability positions
The report also includes analysis commissioned from Promar International examining the financial position of English farming sectors across the three financial years to February 2025, using the government’s Farm Business Survey.
Its measure, Management and Investment Income (MII), is the amount remaining after running costs and an allowance for family labour. This must still provide a return on the capital invested in the business and reward the risks involved in farming.
The profitability chart on page 10 allocates 100% of egg production in 2024/25 to farm performance groups with positive average MII. For broilers, the equivalent share was 67%, with 33% allocated to groups recording negative average MII.
These classifications reflect the average financial performance of each group, rather than the profitability of every individual farm. Poultry enterprises were grouped into thirds because of sample-size constraints.
The NFU says the strong egg figures reflect a recovery following a difficult period of high feed and energy costs and low returns, which had prompted producers to leave the sector before prices improved.
Planning and import standards
Alongside measures to support investment, the report calls for core standards for food imports reflecting the environmental, animal welfare and food safety requirements expected of UK producers. The NFU argues these should prevent domestic farmers being undercut by products made using practices restricted or prohibited here.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Successive governments have sleepwalked into making it harder to produce food at home, leaving Britain increasingly reliant on imports produced to standards that would be illegal here. The food scare in eggs in recent weeks is a tragic reminder of what happens when we get this wrong.
“Farmers are battling devastating drought, disease outbreaks and soaring costs. At the same time, policy uncertainty, chronic underinvestment and a restrictive planning system are eroding Britain’s ability to produce its own food. This must and can be reversed.”
Mr Bradshaw called for clear food production targets and policies that would allow businesses to invest.
“With the right backing, they can do even more. Clearly defined targets for food production and a set of core standards are the start. A planning system that enables growth and a tax system that recognises the need to invest are crucial.”
