Egg Industry - February 2016 - 8
8 ❙ EggIndustry EXCLUSIVE SURVEY: EXPANDING, ADDING CAGE-FREE year with the acquisition of Valley Fresh Foods near year-end. Egg Industry's Top Egg Company survey is conducted annually, and the results reported are composed of a combination of company-submitted information and estimates made based on input Egg producer's expansion plans for 2016 In each of the past two Top Egg Company surveys, egg producers were asked to report expansion projects they planned to undertake in 2016. In this year's survey, 30 egg producers with approximately million cage-free hens in 2016. The reported increases in cage-free hens varied from as few as 80,000 to as many as 1.4 million birds. Nine egg producers report that they will add housing for enriched/ enrichable cages for more than 4.6 million hens. The expansions range To look up hen numbers for U.S. egg producers in prior years visit: www. WATTAgNet.com/directories/80-the-world-s-leading-broiler-turkey-and-egg-producers from publicly reported information and industry sources. The top 62 egg producer's in the U.S. had an estimated 281.8 million hens on December 31, 2015. 130 million hens in production on December 31, 2015, reported expansion intentions for 2016. Fifteen egg producers reported they will add capacity for almost 6 in size from a low of 71,000 to a high of 701,000. One egg producer reported it will add conventional cage housing for 0.7 million hens. ■ www.WATTAgNet.com ❙ February 2016
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