Chad Gregory, CEO of the United Egg Producers (UEP), told a group of producers and allied industry representatives that farmers should stop reacting toward cage-free demand. Rather, they should go on the offensive and define what a cage-free system should be.
UEP estimates that 190.4 million hens, or about 66 percent of the current national flock, will be required to full anticipated cage-free demand by 2025. As of last month, the cage-free flock in the U.S. number 16.5 million birds.
Source: Watt Poultry Update, August 25, 2016.
Gregory said the movement toward cage-free eggs isn’t being driven by consumers – consumers aren’t buying the more expensive cage-free drugs on grocery store shelves – or the restaurants and retailers, it’s activist groups like the Humane Society of the United States and the Humane League. The groups, with a major victory under their belt, can now pivot to defining what cage-free means and imposing standards that would be even more disruptive to animal agriculture.
INSIGHTS: This chicken got out of the coop and took a flock of friends with it when California’s Proposition 2 passed in 2008. Five more states have passed similar laws since. These laws are proof that emotion, not scientific evidence supporting sound animal care, often works to get legislation passed that burdens protein production.