Vital Farms

Built on Values,
Happy Hens

by CLAIRE BONTEMPO
In 2007, Matthew OHayer began
his egg business with just 50 hens and
a curiosity for pasture-raising. Vital
Farms has expanded to a national network that has placed nutritious eggs
from healthy hens into 1,500 stores
across the country. This success is directly related to consumers becoming
better educated about food systems.
Vital Farms is driven by values
the hens and farms are fundamental priorities that drive the decisions
made within the company. It began
with a single farm in Austin, Texas,
and then branched out as more egg
producers became interested in raising their hens on pasture. Rather than
a single farm, Vital Farms now represents a partnership of 52 farms from
Washington to Florida. The major-

ity of flocks are composed of Bovans

Browns, Amberlinks and Ameraucanas.

feed, either organic or non-GMO respectively, from day 2.

We dont get the chicks until 16 to
24 weeks, typically, said Dan Brooks,
director of marketing and communications at Vital Farms. They are
raised as chicks and then as pullets,
which are teenage hens, on different
farms. And again thats a well-protected chain, so we know when they
come to us theyve never been fed
non-organic or non non-GMO food.
According to Brooks, USDA organic doesnt focus on the lifestyle of
the birds, but rather the environmental influences on the way the chickens
are raised. With Certified Humane,
there is a degree of overlap, but they
are more concerned with how the
birds are raised. Certified Humane
bases their Pasture Raised certification requirements upon European

EGGS & LABELS

All of the eggs produced under
the Vital Farms umbrella come from
farms that meet the gold standard
of Certified Humane Pasture Raised.
Vital Farms offers different types of
eggs to appeal to different customer
bases: conventional, non-GMO and
certified organic. The only difference
between production is the feed, for
example, non-GMO requires that the
hens be fed non-GMO feed. Certified
organic, the most expensive of the
line, is a much more involved process
that has specific regulations for every
step of the egg production process.
Most importantly for either label, the
chicks have to be fed the appropriate

studies that focused on sustainable

farming, soil use and preventing soil
degradation.
Vital Farms maintains these standards through a pasture rotation system. Most farms have a six-segment
rotation cycle; the flock will spend
four or five days in each segment and
then rotate to the next. According to
Brooks, any parasites that may exist
in that section of land will die out
naturally before the hens return. It
also gives the land time to recover, as
a good portion of the chickens diet
comes from pasture.
Its not 100 percent because we
give them the supplemental feed to
make sure they have the right balance
of proteins and carbs they need to lay,
but thats why the eggs are so much
healthier and higher in vitamins, said
Brooks.
FINDING FARMERS
At first, Vital Farms had to actively
seek out partner farmers. Now they
get emails every week from farmers whod like to join. However, the
Pasture-Raised standard strictly allows
for no more than two weeks of indoor time for the birds. This means a
farms location is critical in determining whether or not pasture-raising laying hens is a possibility. Vital Farms
denotes the Pasture Belt as the region
of the United States where farms can
truly adhere to the Certified Humane
Pasture Raised standards. In this part
of the country, delineated by the average temperature and snowfall, the
weather is most conducive to allow
the chickens to be outside year-round
and inside no more than two weeks
over the course of the year. Interested
farmers who are outside the Pasture
Belt can be difficult to partner with.
Another limiting factor is proximity to processing centers; preferably
farms are within four hours of a facility. Brooks explains that all of the
eggs that come off a farm are the nest
run. For any given flock, about 80
percent of the birds will lay an egg
on any given day. Usually a chicken
will lay six eggs per week. But not
all of those eggs are usable for end
consumers.
Theyre different sizes, theyre
funny shapes, said Brooks. When

Whats in a Name?
Anything that isnt factory raised is considered a specialty egg. However, there is a lot of misinformation surrounding egg production and
confusion between Free Range, Cage Free and Pasture Raised. This
is likely because there are no legal definitions that bind egg producers to
specific requirements or conditions in order to make these claims, unless
the producer is overseen by the USDA and/or Certified Humane.
For eggs, USDA Free Range and Cage Free labels are not defined
or regulated. Though Cage Free implies the hens do not live in cages,
they are often housed in large barns or warehouses in large numbers.
Free Range usually means the animal has access to the outdoors, but does
not ensure the animal actually goes outside. Certified organic refers to the
feed the hens eat.
Certified Humane officially differentiated between Free Range and
Pasture Raised in January 2014. Free Range requires 2 square feet per
bird. Hens must be outdoors, weather permitting, for at least six hours a
day. Pasture Raised requires 1,000 birds per 2.5 acres or 108 square feet
per bird. Fields must be rotated and hens must be outdoors year-round,
with available housing for nighttime protection or inclement weather.
Hens cannot be inside for more than two weeks of the year. Producers
claiming Certified Humane Free Range or Pasture Raised must also meet
all base standards of Certified Humane.

you open a carton of eggs you think,

Wow this is amazing, the chickens all
laid perfect eggs! No. Theres a selection process that goes into that. The
nest run is everything thats produced
on that day. They go to a processing
center where theyre cleaned, washed
and graded.
Grading is by size such as small,
large, medium, jumbo, extra large,

and single A versus double A is a factor of age.

For a farm to be a viable option
for us, we dont want to have to ship
those eggs more than, say, four hours
from the farm to a processing center. You want to maintain a certain
temperature, and the longer you take
them the more risk that that tempera-

ture is going to rise, and youre also

adding fuel costs and what have you.
For larger flocks, the distance from
a processing plant can be farther if its
cost-effective. Some centers are Vital Farms-specific, while others partner with Vital Farms. According to
Brooks, the amount of processing centers is a limiting factor for company
growth at the moment. In the next
year they hope to find more partnering processing centers.
Daniel Webb provides eggs to Vital
Farms from three farms he operates
in Decatur, Arkansas. At Webb Farm
he cares for 8,000 birds on 20 acres.
School Farm and Cedar Hollow Farm
are each 15 acres with 6,000 birds at
each. A couple years ago Webb delivered his eggs to Arkansas Egg where
Vital Farms picked them up. Vital
Farms has since taken over Arkansas
Egg, and now Webb works directly
with Vital Farms.
They want to work with us, the
farmers, said Webb. They have
ideas and they bounce them off us.
But they consider our ideas also.
Webb Farm helps produce pastureraised organic eggs at one facility
while his other operations supply nonorganic eggs. Webb typically rotates

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his flock once a month, depending on

the conditions of the land.
If the birds are consuming grass
more quickly or the area is beginning
to deteriorate, like a lot of rain makes
the ground too soggy, well rotate
more rapidly.

because they can be. There are no

toxic chemicals present at any stage.
So the sustainability is not just an environmental sustainability.
The food business, if done ethically, is a small profit margin industry.
For many of the larger egg companies,
cage free and free range labels are
marketing opportunities.
We try a different model where
we create a farming system that supports the farmers. Typically our smallest flock size is about 2,500 birds
which requires about 8 acres of space
for that flock so youll have farms with
just that one flock. We do have some
farms with several flocks if they have
the land, but weve found that number
of 2,500 birds allows the business to
be sustainable. The income that can
be generated off that number of birds
allows them to recoup their investment reasonably fast.

ECO-CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM
Weve lived and grown by the
ideas weve established from the very
beginning: sustainability, ethical treatment of animals, humane treatment of
animals, you know, better treatment
of farmers, said Brooks. Its whats
called the stakeholder model. So everyone connected has a stake in the
way the eggs are produced and the
value of the eggs.
The stakeholder model ensures that
a decision benefiting the farmer wont
be at the expense of the consumer or
vice versa. In Brooks opinion, the
larger egg companies are recognizing
this and trying to develop specialty
egg lines but cant compete. The ideals that make Vital Farms unique are
prioritizing the protection of every
part of the egg production process.
We pay our farmers a better
wage, a better living, a better per-egg
price ..., said Brooks. Its a more
pleasant farm to run. Theyre all family-owned, the farms. The families
have their kids around on the farm

EDUCATING VERSUS MARKETING

The popularity of Vital Farms
eggs has increased convergently
with increasing consumer awareness.
To encourage this, Vital Farms has
made efforts to illustrate their concept
through packaging. On the shelf, the
colorful Vital Farms cartons stand out
among the conventional. Statements
like made with fresh air and sunshine, freedom to forage outdoors

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VITAL FARMS

year-round, and family farms across

America decorate the carton to help
tell consumers the Vital Farms story. While they arent all regulated
statements, they help paint a picture
for the consumer and emphasize the
transparency of the company.
Often, customers have questions
concerning the variation between
eggs, such as egg yolk color or shell
thickness. Pasture-raised eggs arent
as uniform as factory produced eggs
because of the very nature of pastureraising. Brooks explains that Vital
Farms tries to bridge the disconnect
consumers have with their food.
Customers typically favor one aspect of our product over another.
Either they are really into the humane treatment of the farm animals
and they support it for that or theyre
into the quality of the product. Often
times, both. But well get emails saying the eggs werent as yellow as they
typically are. Then you explain its a
biological system and they go, Oh, I
hadnt even though about that.
According to Brooks, once people
learn that Vital Farms eggs are the
specialty eggs they thought theyve
been buying theyre sold. Theres
no need for much marketing, just
education.
Once the eggs are sorted by size,
theyre packaged and given to grocers or, in some cases, directly to
restaurants. Whatever the company
cant sell, they donate. Last year, the
company donated 55 tons of eggs that
were too large or small to package in
the cartons and sell. Vital Farms just
wants to bring people good eggs, from

Hens foraging at RedHill Farms, a Vital Farms producer.

tional food stores (i.e. Krogers, Safehappy hens taken care of by content
way, Albertsons). In the last year or
farmers.
so, Vital Farms has expanded into
We call them our girls or our lathese grocery stores with their condies and anthropomorphize to a cerventional lines: Alfresco Eggs and
tain degree because we believe theres
Texas Chicken Ranch. The Alfresco
no need to treat a farm animal like a
Egg line has been the most wellbeast of burden, said Brooks. You
received brand because it satisfies
can treat them with respect whilst
pent-up consumer demand for a bettheyre in your care. It can sound trite.
ter egg, according to Brooks. Theyre
but were seeing time and time
the most affordable and accessible for
again its a truism. If we dont take
many consumers because they are a
care of what we have, it wont be there
pasture-raised egg without
anymore. And people take
the added cost that organic
it for granted.
NEED MORE
or non-GMO feed stipuThe recent growth spurt
INFORMATION?
lates.
for the company has been
For more on
the jump from natural
Vital Farms visit
grocers (i.e. Whole Foods,
vitalfarms.com.
Natural Grocer) to conven-