Two men crack market with local cage-free eggs

Christopher Ludwig said part of what inspired him and his partner Adam Birk to start Jackson Egg Co. was a desire to simplify the way people get their eggs.

"We're removing unnecessary things," he said, referring first and foremost to cages.

While studying at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Birk became familiar with the cage-free concept of egg production by helping an instructor.

He said his adviser needed help building nest boxes to transition five of his seven barns to focus on cage-free egg-laying instead of raising the birds for meat.

"That's what piqued my interest," Birk said.

Cartons of eggs show the Jackson Egg Co. logo on Wednesday in Scott City.Andrew J. Whitaker

Ludwig said their other priority, aside from raising the birds cage-free, is providing local eggs.

It's frustrating, he said, to see eggs at the market labeled "local" and know they came from Texas or Iowa.

"Once you really learn about something, it irritates you to see it misrepresented," Ludwig said. "Some people don't care about where their eggs come from, and that's fine, but some people do."

So Birk and Ludwig, friends since middle school, took the better part of eight months to formulate their business vision.

"The goal is we want to be the specialty egg company in the heartland," Ludwig said. "What we're doing is the in-between steps from the farmer to the grocery store."

Complicating the process, Birk said, was vast fluctuations in the egg market.

"Forty million birds died in 2015," he said.

Then in 2016, the egg supply recovered faster than expected.

"Prices plummeted," he said, waving one hand up and down along imaginary curves. "We've been trying to make a business, while the market has been doing this."

They're taking the first steps of realizing their goal: bringing eggs to market. They've got agreements worked out to have their eggs on shelves in Dierbergs in St. Louis, as well as Food Giant in Cape Girardeau.

"We're trying to push a heartland mentality," Ludwig said. "That means Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, western Kentucky and Tennessee."

Their producers are mostly around Sedalia, Missouri.

Birk admitted raising chickens and producing eggs cage-free can be more difficult than using conventional techniques.

But by starting small, he said they've established relationships with their producers and maintained quality standards.

Birk, who earned his master's degree in poultry nutrition, said to offer their "Trusted Farmer Guarantee," they visit farms to inspect how the birds are treated.

He said they also are sourcing eggs from smaller producers around Cape Girardeau, but small-scale production can be less consistent. Places with 40 or 60 birds, he said, frequently may have extra eggs, but sometimes it's a dozen and other times it's 10.

"We want to help those people out there, though," Birk said. "When you do stay local, you're also keeping your money in the community."

And, Ludwig said, less time in transit means fresher eggs.

"In some cases, we can get them a week fresher than in certain larger cities," he said.

People are beginning to care more about the implications of their food and dollar, Ludwig said. Their hope is to be the go-to cage-free supplier if that trend continues.

"We started with high dreams and unrealistic expectations," Ludwig said. "Now we have high dreams and realistic expectations. ... We're trying to do what we believe is best."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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