'They'll sack those blokes': Northern NSW chicken farmer's dire warning for Hunter industry

Mr Courtney told the Newcastle Herald that the value of his Casino farm had plummeted after Ingham's did not renew his contract in 2020.

"It's not just income; it's asset value. Our bank valuation went from $4.8 million with a contract to $1.1 million without," he said.

"Nothing changed except we didn't have a contract."

Chicken meat giant Baiada, which owns the Steggles and Lilydale brands, wrote to Hunter growers in January about the "possibility of cessation of production of birds" at Beresfield.

The company warned of a "strong possibility" any new supply contracts signed in 2022 "may not run the full term".

Mr Courtney and his family moved to Casino almost 20 years ago to drought-proof themselves after farming cattle and grain in Queensland.

They supplied Byron Bay processor Sunnybrand from their six sheds then Ingham's when it bought out Sunnybrand in 2011.

"We haven't had a chook on our farm since June 2, 2020," he said.

"Everything went good until TPG from America bought Ingham's, then you had number crunchers in Sydney running the show who wouldn't know a chook from a chihuahua.

"We were only given a three-year contract. Obviously they knew what was going on, but we didn't."

Baiada has approval to treble the size of its Tamworth plant and is shifting towards contracts with corporate suppliers such as ProTen and Rural Funds Management.

The company said last week that its letter "should not be misinterpreted as an indication we are moving toward closing the Beresfield plant ... there may not be any such decision".

The meat workers union assured the estimated 1000 employees at the plant that Baiada would not close the factory "any time soon".

Mr Courtney was blunt in his view of the letter and how Baiada's Tamworth plans could affect Hunter growers.

"They'll sack those blokes. I can guarantee you," he said.

Baiada closed its Ipswich plant in Brisbane in 2018.

Mr Courtney said most of the farmers affected by that closure had since signed on with Ingham's and Darwalla, a smaller processor in the Brisbane area, but no such alternative exists for Hunter and Central Coast growers.

He said large-scale suppliers had "killed the family farming enterprises".

"There are 14 or 15 farms in the Northern Rivers now without a contract, all doing nothing," he said.

Shutting the Beresfield plant could wipe out most of the estimated 100 chicken farms in the Hunter and Central Coast and affect hundreds of workers in the supply chain.

Mr Courtney said his "solution" was an industry levy to compensate growers for the devaluation of their properties. But he is resigned to taking a "shattering" loss on the value of his farm and having relatively little to pass on to his children.

"We're still looking at possibilities two years later.

"I'm getting a bit old in the tooth, and we're very worried about risking more money to chase another venture.

"We're really looking like we might sell out and piss off, basically, and just wear the loss.

"It's shattering when you put a lifetime of work into where we are, double the size of the farm, put in all the infrastructure and every upgrade they said you had to put in.

"We could have sold the place for $6 million prior to this, but we decided to keep it for the kids, and bugger me dead this comes along and happens."

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