Has Hugh been a bit naughty?

I watched very little of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s latest programme, Hugh’s Chicken Run, on Monday night as I increasingly find him twee, irritating and a little too fond of himself for his own good.

But I did watch long enough to hear the increasingly fey HFW say that when poultry farmers were asked for access to an intensive farm “they wouldn’t let me any closer than the end of a phone.

I wondered about that.

I can understand the supermarket PR people trying to keep HFW at arms length while sending out marketing bumph to selected customers trying to persuade them that umpteen schemes prove their chicken products are all touchy-feely, warm and fuzzy, and very, very nice.

Farmers are a different kettle of fish – or flock of chooks.

There are always some who are only too willing to put their side of the story and talk about the pressures on them to constantly produce more at less cost, while meeting regulations and standards that overseas producers do not have to meet.

So being a curious sort of bloke, I started looking up poultry farmers to see if any of them had said anything on their own websites, via their industry bodies, in the media or on blogs.

First, I found a telling comment from NFU poultry board chairman Charles Bourns who said he’s decided “not to re-stock my poultry sheds for as long as there is no prospect of being able to rear table chickens profitably”.

While not directly related to HFW’s programme and crusade to end intensive chicken farming, it does give an idea of the background to the reasons for intensive, super-efficient chicken production.

If a very efficient, British, intensive chicken farmer can’t make a profit because the prices paid for chickens are so low, then what chance for a genuine, free-range poultry farmer with much higher costs?

And as Mr Bourns pointed out, if British poultry farmers continue to decrease in numbers then the demand for cheap chicken will be met by even more foreign imports—which are often from countries with lower animal welfare standards than the UK.

Having read this, I was even more puzzled by HFW’s comment that intensive farmers would not speak to him in person or in front of the camera.

After all, it does seem they have a good point to make.

I continued my research, eventually finding Lloyd Maunder’s website and a very interesting press release (dated Tuesday, 8 January 2008).

It reads:

FOR THE RECORD – In the first ‘Hugh’s Chicken Run’ programme last night Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall claimed that when he asked poultry farmers for access to an intensive farm “they wouldn’t let me any closer than the end of a phone.”

This is untrue.

In the making of ‘Hugh’s Chicken Run’, leading poultry producer Lloyd Maunder Ltd. facilitated filming for Hugh and his production team on no less than three farms, including a standard Assured Chicken Production (ACP) unit which is the type of ‘full-on intensive’ farm that Hugh claimed he couldn’t get access to.

The company’s commercial director Andrew Maunder was interviewed by Hugh on three occasions and engaged in a robust debate with him about the chicken industry.

We have been told the reason the footage and interviews have not been included in the programmes is because of duplication with Jamie Oliver’s upcoming programme ‘Fowl Dinners’, for which Lloyd Maunder also facilitated filming.

However, we do not believe this is grounds for such a blatant untruth.

Lloyd Maunder is one of the UK’s leading specialist poultry producers, supplying supermarkets nationwide.

Visit www.devonshirered.co.uk or www.lloydmaunder.co.uk for more information and pictures of Hugh’s visits to our farms.

Oh dear, it looks like HFW’s been a naughty boy and started playing media games by editing out the bits that don’t suit his message.

Trying to blame the editing out on the poultry farmer having co-operated with a different programme is pathetic, especially when there are photos showing the interview took place (see above).

Sorry HFW, but you’ve just dropped another notch in my estimation.

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And a note to the evangelist chicken savers. I am not advocating intensive over free-range, I’m pointing out that if you’re going to castigate people and businesses for alleged dishonesty, then you have to be completely honest yourself.