Europe issues reasoned opinions over laying hen cage ban noncompliance

Egg producers in almost half of EU’s Member States failing to comply.

Free WATTAgNet webinar focuses on alternative layer housing

The impact of bans on conventional cages for housing laying hens will take center stage in the next WATTAgNet.com seminar, Layer housing alternatives: Economic ramifications of a move out of conventional cages, on June 26, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EDT (8:00 a.m. PDT).  Egg producers can hear how the cage bans are impacting EU egg producers today and learn about how alternative systems for housing hens are performing.
Dr. Peter van Horne, senior farm economist at the Agricultural Economics Research Institute, or LEI, will present the results of the EU cage ban on the demographics of the EU layer industry and the relative costs of installing and operating the alternative systems. Peter van Horne has been an invited speaker at many international symposia, conferences, and tradeshows.
Jill Benson, vice president and owner, JS West, will discuss how her family’s California egg farms are preparing for life without conventional cages. JS West has approximately 1.8 million hens and was the first U.S. egg farm to install fully enriched colony housing. There are now two fully enriched colony houses on JS West farms. Benson will share her farm’s two years of experience with this alternative housing system.


Jill Benson

The ban on housing laying hens in conventional cages went into effect across the EU in January of 2012, following early implementation of the ban in countries like Germany for all layers and the Netherlands for table egg layers. Legislation has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban conventional cages for housing layers in favor of enriched colonies and cage-free systems. Several states in the U.S., including California, Ohio and Michigan, have already instituted layer housing regulations, which will take effect as early as 2015 in California.
This webinar is part of the 2012 WattAgNet Webinar Series. Visit upcoming webinars to register.

US consumers support proposed laying hen cage legislation

American consumers support, by a margin of four-to-one, recently proposed national legislation that would transition egg production from the existing conventional cages used for egg-laying hens to enriched cages, according to a new survey conducted by independent research company The Bantam Group. Consumers also said that federal legislation was preferable to state legislation, by a margin of two-to-one.
Consumers support the transition to enriched cages for egg production by a margin of 12-to-one. Consumers also said that the two most important groups to support this transition outlined in the federal legislation (H.R. 3798) to enriched cages are the United Egg Producers and the Humane Society of the United States, both of which support the bill, as do more than 11 egg and farm groups, 10 animal protection groups and the National Consumers League. Fifty-nine percent of consumers said they would be "more supportive" if they knew that the United Egg Producers and humane society supported such legislation; only 1 percent said they would be more opposed.
Enriched cages provide egg-laying hens nearly double the amount of space they currently have in conventional cages, plus provide perches, nest boxes and scratch pads which allow the hens to exhibit their natural behaviors. The study was commissioned by United Egg Producers. However, the survey's sponsorship was anonymous so as to not bias any of the 2,000 respondents, all of whom were registered voters. 

Europe to strengthen animal welfare legislation

The European Commission has adopted a four-year strategy, to be implemented through 2015, that aims to further improve the welfare of animals in the European Union.
The Commission has identified a lack of enforcement of EU legislation by Member States in a number of areas as one of the major issues adversely affecting animal welfare in the EU. Another brake on full and even implementation, according to the Commission, is that the market does not provide sufficient economic incentives for compliance. “The recent coming into force of the laying hens legislation has shown that problems persist in animal welfare in several Member States," said EU Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli. "Some efforts are being made, but many issues need to be tackled in a different way in order to achieve more sustainable results. The new strategy will permit appropriate flexibility in allowing operators to attain the necessary welfare standards by different routes. Optimizing policy coherence and market transparency in a comprehensive animal welfare legislative framework will minimize real or perceived tensions between welfare and economics. Animal welfare measures need to be highly cost-effective, economically and in welfare terms." To address these issues and concerns, the strategy provides for a two-pronged approach: a proposal for a comprehensive animal welfare law and a reinforcement of current actions. The legislation to be proposed is expected to promote an innovative approach focusing on actual welfare outcomes instead of mechanistic inputs, and to increase the focus on the education and professional standards of all parties concerned. The second element proposed is a reinforcement and the optimization of current Commission actions: enhancing tools to strengthen Member States compliance with the legal requirements; boosting the already existing international co-operation on animal welfare issues; providing consumers with better information; and performing studies where animal welfare appears to encourage the most problems. 

American Humane Association to evaluate alternative poultry housing

A project directed by the American Humane Association with the participation of Cargill Kitchen Solutions, McDonald's Corp., USA, Michigan State University and the University of California-Davis will evaluate alternative housing systems, according to Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity.
The study will be funded by the Coalition for a Sustainable Egg Supply and will take place at a large commercial farm in Iowa. The objective of the project is to compare conventional cage systems, colony cages and aviaries.

Bob Evans Farms to participate in hen housing study

Bob Evans Farms announced its plans to participate in a commercial-scale U.S. study of laying-hen housing alternatives, including cage-free housing. The study will look at the effects of different housing environments on hen health and well-being, safe and affordable food, the environment and worker welfare.
The goal of the study is to understand the viability of alternative housing systems in the United States, including cage-free and "enriched housing," which includes nests and perches. Another goal is to provide scientific research that will assist Bob Evans Farms and other companies in making more informed decisions on sustainable egg purchases.
"There are many compelling reasons for a study of this kind," said Sommer Mueller, a veterinarian and director of food safety and regulatory compliance at Bob Evans Farms. "Current research offers conflicting evidence regarding the well-being of animals in a cage-free environment. We recognize the gap in commercial-scale research on sustainable egg production and are very interested in further data to guide our decisions at Bob Evans Farms."
The study is sponsored by the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, of which Bob Evans is a member. Experts at Michigan State University and the University of California-Davis are determining the design, timeline and costs of the study, as well as standards for each housing type, which include cage-free aviary, free-range and enriched housing.