The simple egg may be the most undervalued food item on the shelf. For the operations truly deserving of your food dollars, the 4s and 5s on the Organic Egg Scorecard, getting those eggs to you requires a staggering level of work and investment.
All organic egg operations promise the use of organic feed, far more expensive than its conventional counterpart and grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. By buying organic feed, these operations are opting out of the toxic food system and providing a huge environmental and human health benefit to
us all.
Another upright practice that drives up the cost of production is ensuring that the birds have legitimate access to the outdoors, which is required by the organic regulations and expected by common decency.
The very best US egg farmers, the ones at the very top of our scorecard, go above and beyond these basic commitments to raise flocks with a deep reverence for how the animals behave and what makes them thrive.
For many of these operations, hefty investments are made before the first egg is even laid. Typically, they sacrifice the sticker shock of higher labor and land costs, along with the cost of raising breeds that forage well, for the long-term benefit of a healthy, happy flock that flourishes in the outdoors.
On these farms, birds spend much of their lives surrounded by fresh air and enjoying chicken yards that are designed specifically to promote high animal welfare. They have shade, bugs, and sprouts for snacking. Some spend their days in mobile coops that go from pasture to pasture, which requires extra labor and equipment costs. They have space to spread their wings, dust bathe, and behave like actual chickens, which socialize when they have ample space to move. Along the way, they spread their own manure to build the soil, rather than pollute it.
Add up all of these investments and it’s not hard to imagine the true cost of a real organic egg — a food that requires immense care for the land, animals, and the environment, yet becomes commonplace the moment it enters your carton.
When you buy eggs from top-rated organic farmers, you help small and midsized producers survive in a greenwashed marketplace that pretends an egg is just an egg.
