Egg Producers of Canada hoped for 50 percent cage free by 2024, but grocery stores now want it all cage free by 2025
Major Canadian retailers have hijacked Egg Farmers of Canada’s transition plans for raising fewer hens in cages.
The producer organization released plans in February that aimed to produce 50 percent of eggs in alternative housing by 2024.
However, Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys and other grocers an-nounced last week that they would buy only cage-free eggs by the end of 2025.
The Retail Council of Canada, which made the cage free commitment March 18, said grocers have been thinking about a cage-free policy for a while.
“There have been significant discussions over the last several months among producers, processors, the scientific community and consumers regarding the best approach for raising hens,” said David Wilkes, the retail council’s senior vice-president of government relations and grocery division.
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The retailers’ commitment isn’t set in stone because Canadian egg farmers may struggle to satisfy the cage-free pledge by 2025.
Nonetheless, the decision has thrown a wrench into producers’ plans.
Ninety percent of Canadian eggs are now produced from caged hens, and the egg farmers group said last month that the industry will stop building new barns with conventional, caged housing for hens. It said farmers would shift egg production to enriched housing, free run or free range.
“All production would be in enriched housing, free-run, aviary or free-range by 2036, assuming the current market conditions prevail,” the group said.
The transition plan obviously didn’t satisfy Canadian grocers, given their new commitment to cage-free eggs.
An Egg Farmers of Canada spokesperson said the organization was not giving media interviews on the cage-free announcement. Instead, it issued a post on the Egg Farmers website, which didn’t mention cage-free eggs.
“Research shows that the systems used to produce eggs all have tradeoffs across a host of sustainability factors including animal health and well-being, environment, food safety, worker health and safety and food affordability,” the post said.
“Our industry transition plan considers the growing body of scientific evidence pointing to the benefits of enriched housing, which allows hens to exhibit specific behaviours (such as) perching, scratching, foraging, dust bathing and nesting.”
The producer group and the retail council made their announcements while the National Farm Animal Care Council works on recommendations for a new code of practice for layer hens. Both organizations said they still support that process.
robert.arnason@producer.com
