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Cal-Maine Allocates $40 million for More Cage-Free Eggs

Oct. 7, 2024

Construction should start by the end of this year, with the projects accommodating a million more cage-free hens by next summer.

Dave Fusaro

Cal-Maine Foods, the country’s largest egg producer, will spend $40 million in various capital projects to expand the company’s cage-free egg production capabilities. The projects will include the addition of five cage-free layer houses across the company’s locations in Florida, Georgia, Utah and Texas.

Construction should start by the end of this year, with the projects accommodating approximately one million more cage-free layer hens by late summer 2025. These additions primarily will replace recently retired caged facilities and add to the company’s cage-free capacity.

The company also noted it’s in the process of converting former Tyson Foods facilities in Dexter, Mo., acquired in March, for shell egg production. Cal-Maine Foods has been working with local contract growers and has commitments that would result in approximately 1.2 million additional free-range hens by fall 2025, with plans to add more capacity in the future.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.