The scramble for free-range eggs

With ongoing concerns about the welfare of egg-laying hens prompting changes to free range egg classification, the egg farming industry is seeing a shift towards free-range eggs at all stages of the supply chain.

In its recently updated industry report Egg Farming in Australia, research company IBISWorld expects the egg industry as a whole to generate revenue of $759.6 million in 2015–16. Free-range egg production is anticipated to grow at an annualised 12.0% over the five years through to 2015–16, while caged-egg production has stagnated in the same period.

*Figures in millions of eggs.

Changing spending habits and an increasing push from customers to source ethically produced livestock products have prompted the major supermarkets to respond. Coles no longer sells cage eggs under its private label brand and Woolworths has committed to phasing this out by 2018. Aldi recently announced that it will phase out cage eggs in its stores by 2025. “This has led to a marked decline in the proportion of egg production made up by cage eggs, with cage egg farmers switching to free-range or barn-laid egg production to ensure that they can continue selling to major supermarkets,” IBISWorld Senior Industry Analyst Brooke Tonkin said.

Despite a new national standard for free-range egg production that was announced in March 2016, concerns remain about whether consumers are actually getting true free-range eggs when they purchase eggs labelled free range. “The new standards allow for 10,000 hens per hectare during free-range egg production. This makes it easier for farmers to invest in new free-range production facilities with greater confidence. However, Choice Australia and the RSPCA have criticised the new standard,” Tonkin said.