Farmers oppose planned 39,900-bird poultry farm

Farmers and landowners near Tindstaðir on Kjalarnes are opposing plans for a poultry farm with capacity for up to 39,900 parent birds, mbl.is reports.

The Housing, Infrastructure and Planning Authority has opened the proposal for consultation through the planning portal. The deadline for comments is September 7.

The farm, proposed by Matfugl ehf., would be built in two stages within Reykjavík’s jurisdiction. It would produce parent birds for hatching eggs, which are used to hatch chickens for human consumption. The plans envisage a total of 10,000 square metres of buildings.

The first stage would provide space for 28,000 birds and generate an estimated 360 to 390 tonnes of poultry manure a year. The second stage would increase capacity to 39,900 birds, with annual manure production estimated at 520 to 560 tonnes. All manure would be used as fertiliser on cultivated and uncultivated land.

The plans have been under development since autumn 2023 and have drawn opposition from farmers and landowners on neighbouring farms.

Guðmundur Davíðsson, a former farmer at Miðdal who now lives at Melbær, part of the Miðdal estate a few hundred metres from the proposed construction site, said the land was designated for agriculture but was not suitable for an industrial-scale farm.

“This is agricultural land and agriculture should be carried out here, but we do not want an industrial farm to be established here,” he said. “We are primarily objecting to this scale. Experience shows that once something has been approved, there is a tendency for it to grow and grow.”

Davíðsson said the proposed capacity of 39,900 birds appeared intended to avoid an environmental assessment. Intensive farming is defined as involving 40,000 birds, according to the proposal’s critics.

The development would be located near the boundary between Miðdal and Tindstaðir. Access is available from both Kjalarnes and Kjós, but Davíðsson said neither the road nor the bridge could handle substantial heavy traffic.

Reykjavík holds the planning authority because the project lies within its jurisdiction. Kjós municipality is a consultation party as the nearest neighbour.

Davíðsson also said the project appeared likely to require hot water from Kjós utilities, as a pipeline runs through the land. He said the transport assessment was weak and that the documents assumed at least four 44-tonne trucks would regularly use the low-capacity rural road.