Will drones help cage-free egg farmers win big in price wars?

(Beth Clifton collage)

Animal Outlook drone video catches “free roaming” producer with egg on its corporate face

RIDGELAND,  Mississippi;  ROGERS,  Arkansas;  TELFORD, Pennsylvania––Soaring parallel to egg prices projected by the Donald Trump administration to rise 58% in 2025 are,  not surprisingly,  agribusiness opposition to the cage-free mandates in effect in 10 states––and,  paradoxically,  industry interest in switching to cage-free production.

Soaring over cage-free producers,  meanwhile,  are drones ensuring that cage-free producers are fulfilling claims about their hens being “free-roaming,”  “free range,”  and/or “pasture raised.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Leading conventional egg producer Cal-Maine had a bad day

The conventional egg producer Cal-Maine Foods Inc.,  claiming a fifth of the U.S. egg market,  had a rotten day on April 8,  2025.

In addition to disclosing fiscal third-quarter results falling short of Wall Street estimates,  Cal-Maine acknowledged having received a “civil investigative demand” in connection with a Justice Department investigation of alleged price-fixing contributing to rising egg prices.

Henry the rooster guarding the chicken house.  (Beth Clifton photo)

But cage-free producer is expanding

But even as Cal-Maine got shelled,  Happy Egg of Rogers,  Arkansas announced via PRNewswire that,  “In response to rising interest in ethically produced,  high-quality eggs,  Happy Egg is proud to announce the expansion of its product portfolio to include pasture-raised eggs,  laid by hens raised on 50 acres of pasture and cared for by small family farmers.

“The expansion follows a recent merger with Egg Innovations,” Happy Egg said,  pledging that,  “Happy Egg’s pasture-raised hens enjoy year-round access to the outdoors, with 108 square feet of pasture per bird.  Raised in the Ozarks and Midwest,”  Happy Egg said,  “the hens enjoy sunshine,  fresh air,  and freedom to run.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Animal Outlook vs. Alderfer Poultry Farm, Inc.

How can consumers be sure that such lofty promises are kept?

“Drone footage supplied key evidence in a case brought by animal advocacy group Animal Outlook against Alderfer Poultry Farm, Inc.,  a Pennsylvania egg brand that advertised its eggs as ‘free-roaming,’ when footage revealed some of these hens were not afforded better welfare conditions in reality,”  reported Jessica Scott-Reid on April 1,  2025 for Sentient Media.

“Alderfer has now agreed to settle the lawsuit for $287,500 and pledged to remove the ‘free-roaming’ claim from its products,”  Scott-Reid continued.

“Drone footage from several Alderfer farms was taken by Animal Outlook in partnership with photojournalism organization We Animals in December 2023,”  Scott-Reid explained.

Free-range hens on deep litter.
(Merritt Clifton photo)

“Small,  covered,  wire-floored porches”

“The footage revealed that some hens labeled as ‘free-roaming’ were in fact only provided small,  covered,  wire-floored porches that could only accommodate a fraction of the flock.

“Other farms appeared to provide animals with no outdoor access at all.

Said Animal Outlook chief executive Ben Williamson,  “For years the industry has gotten away with cruelty to animals by having huge walls that were only ever penetrable by undercover investigations.  Being able to fly drones from a public sidewalk on the street — public property over the top of a facility — allows us to see what’s going on behind those walls.”

The best drone cameras on the market need not even get that close.  Some of the drones used by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness to document cockfights fly quietly enough,  filming from far enough away,  that the cockfighting suspects never know they are under surveillance.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Reason writer argues against economic reason

Conservative pundit C. Jarrett Dieterle of the R Street Institute,  best known for opposing restrictions on the alcohol industry,  argued in the March 4,  2025 edition of Reason:  Free Minds & Free Markets that “State laws banning caged eggs are cutting off millions from cheaper options.”

Brian Earnes,  an analyst for CoBank,  part of the U.S. Farm Credit System,  had already pointed out six days earlier to Josh Boak of Associated Press that,  “The main reason egg prices have climbed is that more than 166 million birds have been slaughtered” in response to H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks.

“Most were egg-laying hens,”  Earnes pointed out.

(Beth Clifton photo)

Cage-free mandates delayed

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,  the egg supply is limited by the number of hens mature enough to lay eggs,  and increased demand for every egg produced would only drive prices higher for everyone.

Apparently taking her cue from Reason,  impervious to economic reasoning and evidence,  Arizona governor Katie Hobbs,  a Democrat,  on March 21,  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,  for another seven years.

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.

(Beth Clifton collage)

African cage-free campaigns

Even as the Hannaford and other Ahold Delhaize USA egg brands chickened out of keeping their previous commitments to going cage-free,  Christine Ro of the online business magazine Forbes.com on March 30,  2025 profiled veterinarian Daniel Abiliba,  director of the Animal Welfare League in Ghana.

“The Animal Welfare League is one of the growing number of African organizations campaigning for alternatives to cages for egg production,”  wrote Ro.

“Rates of chicken caging vary greatly across Africa,”  Ro explained.  “In South Africa,  nearly all layer hens spend their lives in cages.  Egypt also has a more industrialized model of egg farming,”  but in other African nations,  “where egg production has taken off relatively recently,  the challenge is not about moving chickens away from cages,  but ensuring that cages don’t become the norm in the first place.”

Hens caged in Kenya.  (Beth Clifton photo)

Ghana & Rwanda

Ro spotlighted Ghana and Rwanda,  whose governments have long encouraged egg production and consumption to improve nutrition generally,  and childhood nutrition in specific.

Now factory farming is just beginning to replace small-scale hen-keeping in villages,  opposed by the Animal Welfare League and by the Rwandan Animal Welfare Organization,  directed by veterinarian Jean Claude Masengesho.

Masengesho ”provides farmer workshops to provide more information about healthy and humane egg production,”  Ro wrote.  “On economic and health grounds, they point out that more antibiotics are needed on caged farms.  On ethical and religious grounds,  they communicate about animal suffering and the importance of good stewardship.

“In Ghana,”  Ro continued,  “the Animal Welfare League also works directly with farmers, with site visits,  veterinary support, and demonstrations of the high productivity possible in cage-free systems.  There are now over 150 farmers in their cage-free network.

Hens caged in Kenya.  (Beth Clifton photo)

“Some African contexts make caging especially harmful”

“Apart from global concerns about animals’ wellbeing and health in tightly packed cages,”  Ro mentioned,  “some African contexts also make caging especially harmful to chickens.  Rising temperatures are making conditions more challenging for chickens in cramped, confined spaces.

“As well,   ‘In many parts of Africa,  the electricity infrastructure is not so reliable,” comments Aurelia Adhiambo,  the Africa lead for the global Open Wing Alliance,  who is based in Nairobi,  Kenya.  “Power cuts lead to deaths of animals in industrialized farms,  and make it hard to maintain needed conditions in caged systems.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

A promising start in Kenya

Momentum toward factory egg farming in Africa may be slowed,  Ro indicated,  by “The abrupt loss of U.S. foreign assistance to support economic development and reduce malnutrition,”  including “zero-interest loans, high-quality chicken breeds,  and advice to new farmers.”

From the Africa Network for Animal Welfare [ANAW] on March 17,  2025 came both the announcement that interim executive director Josiah Ojwang has been confirmed as permanent successor to founder Josphat Ngonyo,  who has retired,  and a victory announcement.

(See Africa Network for Animal Welfare founder Josphat Ngonyo steps down.)

Merritt & Beth Clifton with Henry the rooster.

“ANAW through a joint campaign with the Open Wing Alliance,”  communications director Sebastian Mwanza said,  in February 2025 obtained commitments from the GreenHub Hotel in Machakos County and Hotel Troy in Nairobi County to “source cage-free eggs from cage-free farmers.”

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