![\"Chicken](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-04-08_20-45-12-180-e1744170347683.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n RIDGELAND,\u00a0 Mississippi;\u00a0 ROGERS,\u00a0 Arkansas;<\/strong>\u00a0 TELFORD, Pennsylvania\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Soaring parallel to egg prices projected by the Donald Trump administration to rise 58% in 2025 are,\u00a0 not surprisingly,\u00a0 agribusiness opposition to the cage-free mandates in effect in 10 states\u2013\u2013and,\u00a0 paradoxically,\u00a0 industry interest in switching to cage-free production.<\/p>\n Soaring over cage-free producers,\u00a0 meanwhile,\u00a0 are drones ensuring that cage-free producers are fulfilling claims about their hens being \u201cfree-roaming,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cfree range,\u201d\u00a0 and\/or \u201cpasture raised.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The conventional egg producer Cal-Maine Foods Inc.,\u00a0 claiming a fifth of the U.S. egg market,\u00a0 had a rotten day on April 8,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n In addition to disclosing fiscal third-quarter results falling short of Wall Street estimates,\u00a0 Cal-Maine acknowledged having received a \u201ccivil investigative demand\u201d in connection with a Justice Department investigation of alleged price-fixing contributing to rising egg prices.<\/p>\n Henry the rooster guarding the chicken house.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But even as Cal-Maine got shelled,\u00a0 Happy Egg of Rogers,\u00a0 Arkansas announced via PRNewswire that,\u00a0 \u201cIn response to rising interest in ethically produced, \u00a0high-quality eggs, \u00a0Happy Egg is proud to announce the expansion of its product portfolio to include pasture-raised eggs, \u00a0laid by hens raised on 50 acres of pasture and cared for by small family farmers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expansion follows a recent merger with Egg Innovations,\u201d Happy Egg said,\u00a0 pledging that,\u00a0 \u201cHappy Egg\u2019s pasture-raised hens enjoy year-round access to the outdoors, with 108 square feet of pasture per bird. \u00a0Raised in the Ozarks and Midwest,\u201d\u00a0 Happy Egg said, \u00a0\u201cthe hens enjoy sunshine, \u00a0fresh air, \u00a0and freedom to run.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n How can consumers be sure that such lofty promises are kept?<\/p>\n \u201cDrone footage supplied key evidence in a case brought by animal advocacy group Animal Outlook against Alderfer Poultry Farm, Inc., \u00a0a Pennsylvania egg brand that advertised its eggs as \u2018free-roaming,\u2019 when footage revealed some of these hens were not afforded better welfare conditions in reality,\u201d\u00a0 reported Jessica Scott-Reid on April 1,\u00a0 2025 for Sentient Media<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cAlderfer has now agreed to settle the lawsuit for $287,500 and pledged to remove the \u2018free-roaming\u2019 claim from its products,\u201d\u00a0 Scott-Reid continued.<\/p>\n \u201cDrone footage from several Alderfer farms was taken by Animal Outlook in partnership with photojournalism organization We Animals in December 2023,\u201d\u00a0 Scott-Reid explained.<\/p>\n Free-range hens on deep litter.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cThe footage revealed that some hens labeled as \u2018free-roaming\u2019 were in fact only provided small, \u00a0covered, \u00a0wire-floored porches that could only accommodate a fraction of the flock.<\/p>\n \u201cOther farms appeared to provide animals with no outdoor access at all.<\/p>\n Said Animal Outlook chief executive Ben Williamson,\u00a0 \u201cFor years the industry has gotten away with cruelty to animals by having huge walls that were only ever penetrable by undercover investigations.\u00a0 Being able to fly drones from a public sidewalk on the street \u2014 public property over the top of a facility \u2014 allows us to see what\u2019s going on behind those walls.\u201d<\/p>\n The best drone cameras on the market need not even get that close.\u00a0 Some of the drones used by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness to document cockfights fly quietly enough,\u00a0 filming from far enough away,\u00a0 that the cockfighting suspects never know they are under surveillance.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conservative pundit C. Jarrett Dieterle of the R Street Institute,\u00a0 best known for opposing restrictions on the alcohol industry,\u00a0 argued in the March 4,\u00a0 2025 edition of Reason:\u00a0 Free Minds & Free Markets<\/em> that \u201cState laws banning caged eggs are cutting off millions from cheaper options.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Earnes,\u00a0 an analyst for CoBank, \u00a0part of the U.S. Farm Credit System, \u00a0had already pointed out six days earlier to Josh Boak of Associated Press that,\u00a0 \u201cThe main reason egg prices have climbed is that more than 166 million birds have been slaughtered\u201d in response to H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks.<\/p>\n \u201cMost were egg-laying hens,\u201d\u00a0 Earnes pointed out.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other economic analysts observed that even if consumers in states with cage-free mandates were allowed to compete to buy eggs from battery-caged hens,\u00a0 the egg supply is limited by the number of hens mature enough to lay eggs,\u00a0 and increased demand for every egg produced would only drive prices higher for everyone.<\/p>\n Apparently taking her cue from Reason<\/em>,\u00a0 impervious to economic reasoning and evidence,\u00a0 Arizona governor Katie Hobbs,\u00a0 a Democrat,\u00a0 on March 21,\u00a0 2025 directed the Arizona Department of Agriculture to delay enforcing a cage-free mandate that was not even to take effect until January 1, 2027,\u00a0 for another seven years.<\/p>\n The Hannaford and other Ahold Delhaize USA egg brands meanwhile postponed their own self-set target dates for going cage-free from have delayed fulfilling their commitments from 2025 to 2032.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage) <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even as the Hannaford and other Ahold Delhaize USA egg brands chickened out of keeping their previous commitments to going cage-free, \u00a0Christine Ro of the online business magazine Forbes.com on March 30,\u00a0 2025 profiled veterinarian Daniel Abiliba,\u00a0 director of the Animal Welfare League in Ghana.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Animal Welfare League is one of the growing number of African organizations campaigning for alternatives to cages for egg production,\u201d\u00a0 wrote Ro.<\/p>\n \u201cRates of chicken caging vary greatly across Africa,\u201d\u00a0 Ro explained.\u00a0 \u201cIn South Africa, \u00a0nearly all layer hens spend their lives in cages. \u00a0Egypt also has a more industrialized model of egg farming,\u201d\u00a0 but in other African nations,\u00a0 \u201cwhere egg production has taken off relatively recently, \u00a0the challenge is not about moving chickens away from cages, \u00a0but ensuring that cages don\u2019t become the norm in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Hens caged in Kenya.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ro spotlighted Ghana and Rwanda,\u00a0 whose governments have long encouraged egg production and consumption to improve nutrition generally,\u00a0 and childhood nutrition in specific.<\/p>\n Now factory farming is just beginning to replace small-scale hen-keeping in villages,\u00a0 opposed by the Animal Welfare League and by the Rwandan Animal Welfare Organization,\u00a0 directed by veterinarian Jean Claude Masengesho.<\/p>\n Masengesho \u201dprovides farmer workshops to provide more information about healthy and humane egg production,\u201d\u00a0 Ro wrote.\u00a0 \u201cOn economic and health grounds, they point out that more antibiotics are needed on caged farms.\u00a0 On ethical and religious grounds, \u00a0they communicate about animal suffering and the importance of good stewardship.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Ghana,\u201d\u00a0 Ro continued, \u00a0\u201cthe Animal Welfare League also works directly with farmers, with site visits, \u00a0veterinary support, and demonstrations of the high productivity possible in cage-free systems. \u00a0There are now over 150 farmers in their cage-free network.<\/p>\n Hens caged in Kenya.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cApart from global concerns about animals\u2019 wellbeing and health in tightly packed cages,\u201d\u00a0 Ro mentioned, \u00a0\u201csome African contexts also make caging especially harmful to chickens. \u00a0Rising temperatures are making conditions more challenging for chickens in cramped, confined spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cAs well, \u00a0\u00a0\u2018In many parts of Africa, \u00a0the electricity infrastructure is not so reliable,\u201d comments Aurelia Adhiambo, \u00a0the Africa lead for the global Open Wing Alliance, \u00a0who is based in Nairobi,\u00a0 Kenya.\u00a0 \u201cPower cuts lead to deaths of animals in industrialized farms, \u00a0and make it hard to maintain needed conditions in caged systems.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Momentum toward factory egg farming in Africa may be slowed,\u00a0 Ro indicated,\u00a0 by \u201cThe abrupt loss of U.S. foreign assistance to support economic development and reduce malnutrition,\u201d\u00a0 including \u201czero-interest loans, high-quality chicken breeds, \u00a0and advice to new farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n From the Africa Network for Animal Welfare [ANAW] on March 17, \u00a02025 came both the announcement that interim executive director Josiah Ojwang has been confirmed as permanent successor to founder Josphat Ngonyo,\u00a0 who has retired,\u00a0 and a victory announcement.<\/p>\n (See Africa Network for Animal Welfare founder Josphat Ngonyo steps down.)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAnimal Outlook drone video catches \u201cfree roaming\u201d producer with egg on its corporate face<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLeading conventional egg producer Cal-Maine had a bad day<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBut cage-free producer is expanding<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAnimal Outlook vs. Alderfer Poultry Farm, Inc.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Merritt Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cSmall,\u00a0 covered,\u00a0 wire-floored porches\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nReason<\/em> writer argues against economic reason<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCage-free mandates delayed<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAfrican cage-free campaigns<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nGhana & Rwanda<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cSome African contexts make caging especially harmful\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA promising start in Kenya<\/h2>\n