Some U.S. farmers who previously raised chickens for Tyson Foods are now shifting to egg production after the meatpacker closed six of its plants, leaving local suppliers with limited options. This transition, however, comes with high costs and risks.
In central Virginia, a group of former Tyson suppliers formed a cooperative that will produce cage-free eggs for Indiana-based Dutch Country Organics on a dozen farms, after Tyson closed its nearby Glen Allen plant last year. Similarly, in Dexter, Missouri, the world’s biggest egg company, Cal-Maine Foods, finalized a deal to buy another Tyson-shuttered chicken meat plant and recruited local farmers to produce eggs.
The switch to eggs, which carries high costs, reflects the tough choices former Tyson suppliers around the country must make following the company’s decision to shut plants in an effort to return to profitability in its chicken business.
Egg farming also comes with the risk of lethal bird flu infections, which have hit laying hens harder than broiler chickens raised for meat. The virus has resulted in the culling of nearly 10 million hens involved in commercial egg production so far this year.
Former broiler growers must spend millions of dollars on barn and equipment upgrades to produce eggs, a notoriously volatile market. John Bapties, president of the Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative, said the investment is “a very expensive” one for the growers.
Some farmers, like Taylor Lee in DeWitt, Virginia, have decided against the switch, choosing to focus on raising crops while keeping their poultry barns empty for now. Others, like Roger Reynolds in Virginia, are considering producing eggs for Braswell Family Farms, where his daughter found work after Tyson’s plant closure.
The transition to egg production means a different way of life for the former chicken farmers, with hens laying most of their eggs in the morning, requiring constant monitoring of the barns.