Earlier this month, HSI organized a visit for Ovobrand, one of Argentina’s largest egg producers, to Hickman’s Family Farms, a leader in the United States’ cage-free movement. This allowed the producers from South America to learn about cage-free egg production first-hand from their North American peers who had already successfully transitioned to cage-free systems.
During the visit, which took place at a Hickman’s farm in Arizona, the farmers discussed the new management practices and technologies necessary for a transition to cage-free housing, the benefits of such systems for hen welfare, and the competitive advantage of cage-free producers in a market that increasingly values animal welfare.
Octavio Gaspar, general manager of Ovobrand, said: “We are very happy to have been able to visit the systems used by Hickman’s in person, since in Argentina there is an increasing level of consultation and interest around cage-free eggs and we want to be pioneers in offering them. We have been in talks with HSI for months, and both their experience and the coordination of this visit in the United States have been very helpful for Ovobrand to make progress on this issue.”
Organizing such exchanges is just one of the many ways in which HSI supports companies in a transition to cage-free housing. We also host technical workshops across the globe, bring food companies together for roundtables on animal welfare, and in some cases connect businesses with experts on cage-free housing for one-on-one technical support.
Major food companies around the world are working with HSI to shift away from the lifelong confinement of egg-laying hens in battery cages towards higher welfare cage-free systems that provide the birds with greater opportunity to move and express natural behaviors. These partnerships are the result of HSI’s unique approach to animal advocacy.
We focus on empowering stakeholders at every stage in the supply chain for eggs and meat—including farmers, agribusiness companies, food manufacturers, food retailers, restaurants, hotel chains, governments, financial institutions, and individual consumers—with the information they need to make positive changes in the lives of animals.
Our goal: a cage-free future for egg-laying hens across the globe.