Problems with US egg production

From the 1920s to the 1960s, most of the egg industry consisted of small farms with backyard flocks. These birds produced eggs for a specific farming family, and the surplus was sold locally in small towns. By the 1960s, it was more common to see 10,000 to 20,000 birds, whose eggs were still handled by hand. Off-site service trucks then picked up the eggs and transported them to a separate packaging and distribution facility.

In the 1970s and 1980s, technological advances allowed for greater automation in egg processing and consolidation of the industry. Large in-line egg grading facilities became the obvious choice for profitability for an industry that required larger flocks and farms to maximize efficiency and profitability.

The egg industry has seen a surge in the past 10 to 15 years due to pressure from consumers and activists demanding more options for organic, cage-free, antibiotic -free eggs from small and family farms. This has led to an interesting paradigm shift in the egg industry, moving away from the more industrialized way of raising poultry indoors with birds in cages.

Recent consumer pressure for healthier, more natural products has pushed much of the industry to move back to smaller, free-range herd sizes, including access to antibiotic-free pastures in many locations.

The shift in the poultry industry toward niche markets targeting antibiotic-free flocks with access to outdoor ranges has created a surge in disease problems over the past decade that were not seen due to differences in farming practices. Many of these problems were known as "old" poultry farming diseases, which were eliminated in flocks as the trend of producing eggs only indoors and in cages became popular after the 1970s and 1980s. The shift by customer demand to small herds with outdoor access in open groups has created an ideal environment for these “old” diseases to re-emerge in the industry.

Diseases such as avian cholera (Pasteurella multocida), egg drop syndrome and infectious rhinitis have reappeared at a significantly increasing rate in recent years. Pressure from customers and advocates for greater use of cage-free flocks is expected to continue in the coming years, meaning disease concerns will also remain an issue.