Gemperle Family Farms’ conversion to 100 percent cage-free egg production will be accelerated and completed by 2023, the company announced. Gemperle Family Farms’ previous commitment stated that the conversion would be completed by 2024.
"A great majority of our food retail, food manufacturing, and food service and hospitality customers have committed to using 100 percent cage free by 2025. Our conversion timeline of 2023 completion puts us two years ahead of most of our customer commitments," said Gemperle Family Farms President Steve Gemperle.
As part of the company's ongoing commitment to animal welfare and sustainable egg production, they plan to convert all barns, including their fully enriched colony barns to 100 percent cage free aviary and open barn production by 2023. A major portion of this conversion to cage free and organic has already been completed in the past decade.
"We have always appreciated our customers who have supported the cage-free and organic movement," Gemperle said. "We are seeing an acceleration of this trend at both the consumer, foodservice, and manufacturing level which will allow us to complete our conversion by 2023."
Gemperle Family Farms’ accelerated conversion schedule allows its customers to more easily meet their pledges to purchase 100 percent cage-free by 2025.
Gemperle Family Farms, based in Stanislaus County, California, is the 19th largest egg company in the United States, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database. In 2016, it had a flock of 4.91 million hens.
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