Pig and poultry businesses may have to take a step back from innovating to ensure they can deal with inflated administrative costs says farming organisations.

The NFU, National Pig Association (NPA), British Poultry Council (BPC) and British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) are warning the Environment Agency (EA) that a doubling of application fees and a significant uplift in variation fees would cause huge concern for pig and poultry farmers, at a time when businesses are already making significant investments in order to improve competitiveness.

The EA consultation on its Strategic Review of Charges states that permit variation fees will increase from £380 to between approximately £2,400 and £7,000 depending upon the degree of variation. In addition new application fees could rise from £3,750 to around £8,000.

NFU poultry board chairman Duncan Priestner said: “Farm businesses are incredibly innovative and are often early adopters of new technology – this sharp increase in costs levelled on businesses by the EA could seriously curtail these advancements.

“These proposed changes could see many pig and poultry businesses take a step back from innovating to ensure they can deal with inflated administrative costs.

"In return for additional cost we are receiving nothing extra in return. This money would be far better spent invested in the business for the benefit of the environment. The proposed fee increases are inequitable and unjustified – a view that we will be conveying strongly to the EA.”

NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said: "We are extremely concerned at the proposed charge increases, which we believe are unjustified, unfair and will cause unnecessary damage to pig farmers who have done nothing to deserve this.

"In fact, the pig sector has invested heavily over the years to address the concerns covered by environmental permits, making it easier for the EA to do its job. That this is how we are repaid is utterly unacceptable and we are asking in the strongest terms for the EA to think again.

"We are not satisfied with the reasons provided to justify the charges and believe that there is a lot more the EA could do internally to improve its processes and reduce its own costs, rather than passing its inefficiencies onto the pig sector.

"If these charge increases go ahead, it will not only hamper pig farmers, who have come under huge financial pressure over the years, to invest in meeting challenges like environmental pollution, but will erode confidence in the EA, itself."