Investigating drivers of biosecurity engagement and approaches for improving this engagement among egg producers in Australia: Final Project Report

Biosecurity in the egg industry is crucial for the prevention of the introduction and spread of emergency and endemic diseases and maintaining adequate flock health, which is essential for supporting productivity, product quality and the sustainability of the industry. Previous research in the Australian poultry industry has identified the need for improving biosecurity implementation among layer enterprises, across all production types, including cage, barn and free-range. In addition, this research recommended to further investigate current biosecurity practices implemented on layer farms focusing on gaining a better understanding of the factors motivating and hindering biosecurity adoption (Scott et al., 2018b). There have been seven outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in poultry in Australia since 1976, with the last one being reported in 2013, and all of them affecting chicken. In the last decade, concerns have been raised about the potential increased risk of Avian Influenza outbreaks due to the egg industry shift towards free-range production, with recent modelling research predicting a 6 to 7% increase in this risk for each 25% shift from indoor to freerange systems (Glass et al., 2019). In light of this previous research, having a better understanding of biosecurity engagement in the egg industry would contribute to reduce the disease introduction and spread risk.