2 Agriculture to sell poultry feed business

Broiler farming business 2 Agriculture is looking to sell its feed milling operation – acquired as part of the Vion takeover by 2 Sisters Food Group last year – to leading feed company AB Agri.

2 Agriculture says it has entered into “exclusive negotiations” with AB Agri and that a due diligence process is under way. If successful, the deal will see the transfer of four feed mills, namely Fairview in Scotland, Llay in Wales, Stoke Ferry in Norfolk and Chettisham in Cambridgeshire.

The four sites produce about 1m tonnes of poultry feed a year. They will be added to AB Agri’s portfolio of dual species feed mills, plus the poultry specific feed mill at Flixborough in Lincolnshire.

See also: Vion farming operation becomes 2 Agriculture

“AB Agri has been a key strategic partner of the wider business for a number of years,” said 2 Agriculture’s director of agriculture, Lionel Halls. “It is a highly professional, forward thinking national milling operator with the ability and resource to take the milling operation forward at a pace and standard that will meet the needs of the farming and processing businesses.”

In April, 2 Agriculture completed the sale of its breeding and hatching operations to hatchery business PD Hook.

If the sale of the feed division to AB Agri is completed, it will leave 2 Agriculture with just the poultry farming division, comprised of about 120 farms, plus a live bird haulage operation.