A class overview of egg production in California used as an example of basic Agricultural Business concepts.

1. California Egg Production
Rebecca Mordini
AG 150
May 2014

2. Congratulations
● Production Trends
● Location
● Marketing Channel
● Prices, Supply and
Demand
● Export Market
● Market Structure
● Business Profile
● Recommendation

3. Is this a successful commodity for
California?
Production Trends
● Current Production
● Historic Production
● Number of Farms

4. Current CA Production
● 5,451,000,000 Eggs Sold ● $393,245,000 Value
● Number 20 highest
value agricultural
commodity in CA

5. Ten Year Production
7% increase 2010-11

6. How many farmers in California are
raising layers?

7. Where can you raise layers in
California?

8. Marketing Channel
● Producing Eggs
● Processing Eggs
● Shipping

9. Producing Eggs
Video from Canby Farms in Oregon
● Volume of eggs
● Vertical integration
● Different types of housing

10. Producing Eggs

11. Processing Eggs
Video from American Egg Board
● Processing plant
● Automation

12. Processing Eggs

13. Small Farm Production
Kingbird Farm
● Organic Farm in Berkshire NY
● Pasture raised hens
This clip is from the Video Mentor series, produced
by the Cornell Small Farms Program
(http://nebeginningfarmers.org), filmed and edited by
Peter Carroll of Ithaca, NY. This project was
supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher
Development Program (BFRDP) of the National
Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #
2009-49400-05878.

14. Small Farm Production

15. Shipping

16. Supply and Demand
Increasing Demand Factors
● Health benefits
● High protein diet trends
● Specialty eggs
● Cost of replacements
● Policy changes
● Seasonal

17. Supply Factors
●
● Recent supply
Increase has kept
prices steady
● Stable prices give
farmers incentive to
increase
production/supply

18. Export Market
● Number 54 in CA exports
● CA -2.5 % of US egg exports in 2012

19. Top US Egg Export Destinations
● US egg exports
44.2% higher in
2013 than 2012

20. Prices

21. Historic Price Trends

22. Ten Year Prices

23. Research and Promotion Program
● American Egg
Board est. 1976
● 18 members
● Collect fees

24. Research and Promotion Program

25. Research and Promotion Program:
American Egg Board

26. Research and Promotion Program:
American Egg Board
● 10 cents per case
● 30 dozen eggs ea
● For producers over 75,000
hens
● 2013: 142 handlers
collected $22.96M

27. Market Structure:
Monopolistic Competition
● Number of
companies with
number of layers
● Low influence on
price
16 over 5M
59 over 1M
172 over 75,000

28. Monopolistic Competition:
Branding
● Family Owned
● Local
● Farm fresh
● Specialty Eggs

29. Monopolistic Competition:
Low Barriers to Entry
● Chicks are cheap
● Any climate
● No special equipment
● Direct to consumer

30. Profile: Rosemary Farms

31. Private

32. Opportunity in Eggs
● Growing demand
● Rising prices
● Specialty eggs
● Policy changes
● Export market
● No geographical limits
● Low barriers to entry

33. Thank you