Egg Industry has been conducting a survey of U.S. egg producers for decades. Egg producers are ranked based on the number of hens housed on December 31 each year and this survey has become the benchmark for the size of table egg producers in the U.S., explained Terrence O’Keefe, editor of Egg Industry and content director at WATT Global Media, during the WATTAgNet Top Company - 2019 U.S. egg producer ranking webinar on March 28. This webinar was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and presented by WATT Global Media and IRI.
The survey results are composed of a combination of company-submitted information and estimates made based on input from publicly reported information and industry sources.
Cage-free pledges
As part of the 2019 survey, U.S. egg producers were asked what percentage of their customers have pledged to purchase only cage-free eggs or egg products by some future date.
Twenty-seven egg producers answered this question. The average of those responses was that 54 percent of their customers have made future cage-free egg or egg product purchase pledges. The responses to this question ranged from 0 to 100 percent and the median response was 65 percent. If the responses from two producers who are already are 100 percent cage-free are excluded, then the average response of the other companies is 47 percent of customers have made future cage-free purchase pledges.
Producers were also asked what percentage of their customers have established interim benchmarks on their way to purchasing 100 percent of their eggs and egg products from cage-free hens by some future date. The average response was 20 percent, but 14 of the 27 respondents stated that none of their customers had established interim goals for moving to 100 percent cage-free egg purchases. If the responses of egg producers that are already 100 percent cage free are excluded, then the average percentage of customers who have set interim cage-free egg purchase benchmarks falls to 12 percent.
Looking ahead: Less than half of hens cage-free by 2025
The USDA Cage-Free Shell Egg report, released on December 3, 2018, estimates the total U.S. cage-free layer flock (non-organic cage-free layers plus the certified organic cage-free layers) was 51.16 million. The December 2018 USDA Chicken & Egg report estimates the total U.S. table egg population at around 325 million hens, which puts the current cage-free layer flock at 17.6 percent of the U.S. total layer flock. It is estimated that less than 1 percent of U.S. hens are currently housed in enriched cages.
Thirty-one egg producers provided estimates of how they think hens in the U.S. will be housed in 2025. The average of the responses was 55, 2 and 43 percent in conventional cages, enriched cages and cage-free, respectively. The responses for the percentage of hens housed cage free in the U.S. in 2025 ranged from a low of 20 percent to a high of 100 percent, and the median response was 40 percent.
Egg producers have been asked how they thought U.S. hens would be housed in the Top Egg Companies survey every year since 2015. The expected percentage of U.S. hens which would be housed cage free in 2025 jumped from 14 in the 2015 survey to 41 percent in 2016. The prediction for cage-free hen housing has remained in the mid to low 40 percent range over the last three surveys.
Learn more
For more statistical information about converting layer housing from cages to cage free, new housing construction and cage free pledges listen to the full webinar.