Public Funding for Bentley Growers Limited

The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated an endemic labour shortage in the UK broiler industry while underscoring the very real biosecurity risk of human/livestock interaction. In leaving Europe, the UK is opening itself up to cheaper, low-welfare chicken from the USA. This has put a lot of pressure on UK broiler farmers who either need to race to the 'welfare bottom', or find a solution to compete while maintaining and improving their welfare standards. Increased demand for poultry has also meant farmers are building nearer residential locations and vulnerable SSSI ecosystems. This is particularly the case in the two largest poultry producing regions -- Hereford and Shropshire. The recent advances in, and falling costs of sensor systems, automation, data science and image processing algorithms enables a radical rethink of conventional farming. This project aims to make high-welfare chicken production more cost effective and help the UK chicken industry continue to grow -- sustainably.