ONE of Kent's leading free-range eggs producers says celebriry chef campaigns to turn the UK off battery farmed chicken is 'an impossible dream.'

Many Kent supermarkets have experienced a surge in demand for organic producer following the recent foray of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver into the world of battery farmed chickens, with many food outlets struggling to meet public demand.

However, managing director of Bank Farm Produce in Aldington, Doug Wanstall, said while increased interest in high-welfare eggs and birds was encouraging, there were many stubbling blocks in the way of Britain becoming a free range nation.

He said: "Free range eggs currently have 40 per cent of the market share, so it is feesable that free-range chickens could follow suit.

"But the big problem is that if everyone moves to free-range, producers and farmers are going to need much more land to meet demand and there just isn't enough green space in the country to do it."

In Jamie’s Fowl Dinners, screened on Channel 4 on Friday, the chef showed the often gruesome reality of life for battery farmed chicks and hens, and urged shoppers to buy the highest welfare bird and eggs they can afford.

Since the show aired, the Romney Place branch of Sainsbury's in Maidstone noticed a marked difference in sales of organic chicken in comparison to standard chicken, with some ranges selling out completely and an increase in demand for free range and organic products since chicken farming hit the headlines.

Sainsbury's in Quarry Wood, Aylesford, also saw demand go up 50 per cent, and Tesco in Lunsford Park reportedly sold out of their Willow Farm range, which offers better animal welfare than their standard product, at the weekend.

But Mr Wanstall was dubious about how long the enthusiam for high-welfare products would continue.

"There will always be a demand for cheap eggs and chicken while supermarkets continue to drive prices down. If people cannot get them in the UK after 2012, then the European market will move in to fill the gap."

Bank Farm Produce has been producing free-range eggs and other locally sourced food products since 1918.

"In theory we would make more money if everyone switched to free range eggs," Mr Wanstall added. "But the reality is that we can only produce so much at the moment."

"To meet higher demands, you need more chickens and more buildings to house them. To do that you need planning permission to build on green belt land, which is getting more and more difficult to achieve in Kent as it is, and the whole process can take up to 18months and cost upwards of £200,000.

"It is an impossible dream."