Egg Marketing Boards
I’ve wondered for a while how eggs are sold and regulated here in Canada. I know that there is very strict milk marketing board, which forbids the sale of liquid milk or cream by unlicensed producers. Some people get around this rule by selling ’shares’ in a cow, and then ‘giving’ shareholders milk. This is how people buy raw milk, even though it’s technically illegal.
I have long known that there are egg marketing boards as well. However, they clearly don’t operate in the same way as the milk boards do, because you can buy eggs at farm stands and farmer’s markets. Milk you can only buy at the store. So what’s the difference? And what does the marketing board actually do?
The Canadian Egg Marketing Agency is primarily responsible for managing the egg supply. This excerpt describes how supply management works pretty succinctly:
The Canadian Egg Marketing Agency manages supply by establishing annually the national requirement for eggs. The national requirement is then shared among the provinces. To ensure demand can be met, provincial boards issue production quotas to individual producers after accounting for the numbers of smaller producers who grow eggs without quotas.
By ensuring that the market isn’t flooded with eggs, the marketing board keeps prices stable. The argument is that without this sort of protection the Canadian market would be flooded with cheap American eggs, and our own farms would collapse. This would also leave us vulnerable, unable to guarantee our own supply of eggs. I support local farmers and measures to promote food security. But there is a flip side – as Canadians we pay more for our eggs. Are we getting value for the premium we pay?
Here in BC, farms with less than 100 laying hens are permitted to operate without a license. These are the people who are selling eggs at the farmer’s market. Their eggs are nearly always free-range and often organic. And they are operating free from government regulations or oversight.
In contrast, licensed producers with a quota from the BC Egg Marketing Board average 17,000 hens each. And 88% of those eggs are produced in conventional cage systems. These are industrial operations producing vast quantities of eggs. These are also the sorts of farms that groups like the SPCA have raised concerns about.
So what? If I don’t want to buy eggs from a large-scale producer, can’t I just drop by a farm stand? Well, yes. But the problem is that there is a huge gap in the middle, between 99 laying hens and 10,000, the minimum number you need for a quota from the marketing board. And this zone has some very unclear regulations. The financial viability of keeping fewer than 100 birds may be questionable, but growing beyond that might be impossible when you’re bogged down by paperwork. You can hear about one farmer’s frustrations with the BC Egg Marketing Board over at Howling Duck Ranch.
I think there must be a way to provide Canadian egg farmers with security, and also allow small-to-mid sized producers to operate. I don’t think it’s fair that farmers are prevented from growing their business in a small-scale and sustainable fashion. I think it conflicts with the very ideals the marketing board espouses, like promoting food security and protecting the family farm.
As for me, I will continue buying from small producers. Partly because I like knowing where my food is coming from, and how the chickens are treated. But also because there’s no comparing the eggs. The colour of the yolk, the flavour, and even the nutritional content are better when hens are allowed access to outdoor pasture. Or at least that’s my own opinion. I’m sure the large-scale producers are working to ensure the best quality product, and that most people will buy it because it’s affordable and readily available at the grocery store. Fair enough. There’s room for all of us to exercise our own free choice.
I am left with one small question, though. Why is it that farm-fresh eggs are always brown, and commercial eggs are pretty much all white? Is it convention – white says clean and industrial, and brown says crunchy hippie? Or is there actually a reason? If you can answer my burning question, I would love to know. 
I wondered that very thing about brown and white eggs yesterday when my daughter was the only one to bring in a brown egg out of 18 kids in the class. The kids’ “parenting” skills left me wondering too, because by the end of the day only 2 out of 18 hardboiled eggs remained uncracked LOL!
Thanks for linking to my site. Yes, there is an amazing array of regulations for every farming activity in this country these days. Unfortunately, these are pushing the small, sustainable, ethically sensible, family run farms out of business. As you point out, there is a vast chasm between 99 laying hens and 10,000! If we want to take food security seriously, let alone rural economic development and a host of other issues (animal rights, environmental stewardship, and so on) seriously, then these prohibitive and unnecessary regulations must change.
As to why the Farmer’s Market eggs tend to be brown (or green, blue, pink) and the industrial eggs white, the answer is this: the industrial corporations are in for the money only, therefore they use the White Leghorn breed of chicken for their layers. These birds have been tinkered with over time to be relegated to ‘egg making machines’ and they suffer for it. In contrast, most small holders are more interested in maintaining diversity and thus often are busy breeding heritage breeds and staying away from the ‘genetically modified’ breeds of the industrial agriculture sector. There are few heritage breeds that are good layers who also lay white eggs.
Finally, I would like to point out that we small holders have only recently won the right to sell uninspected eggs at Farmer’s Markets (I believe the legislation was finally overturned just this last year –2008– thanks to the diligence of a group of women on Salt Spring Island who fought against the prohibition for many, many years.)
cheers,
HDR
The color of an egg is dependent on the type of chicken. The big commercial operations have one type of chicken that lays well, and they happen to lay white eggs. I have a feeling the “sanitary” look of white eggs has a lot to do with it. Many heritage breed chickens lay brown eggs, which is why you see those at the farmer’s markets and from backyard hens, where you look at more than just the laying capacity of the hen, for example you’ll also take into account how friendly they are when looking for backyard hens. Around here, the saying is “Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh.” There are some breeds that lay blue, green, or pink eggs, too. We’ve been planning on getting chickens and I want to get some of the “Easter-eggers” that lay blue or green eggs, just cause they’re so pretty and the birds are supposed to be very friendly.
The yolks of eggs at farmer’s markets are ususally more orange because the hens eat a more varied diet than the ones raised in little cages.
Around here, it’s not illegal to sell raw milk as long as it’s labeled with warnings that it’s raw. I personally prefer pasteurized milk, since that Biology degree makes me wary of the unpasteurized, but I have seen the merits of each. I don’t drink that much milk anyway. Both of my parents were raised on dairy farms, but dairy farms around here are disappearing because of the set price of milk. Larger farms out of state do better because the cost of land, feed, even cows is so much lower. The dairy farms that are making it here offer specialty items, like raw milk, homemade cheeses, or even beauty products.
Thanks for the interesting post! I always love to learn more about food in other countries!
I was going to answer your question, but since it has already been done I won’t. I have been raising chickens for 5 years now, and I am glad that I can rovide fresh egss for my family and make a small amout of money form friends and family to pay for the feed. The chickens pay for thier own food I only have 15 birds and get a wide variety of eggs. Blue from the Americauna x’s and brown and creams from the others
The other nice thing is that I have had some of my birds for the whole 5 years, and although some of those girls don’t lay anymore, they get to live out their lives with us for all the hard work they did!
Really interesting! We’ve just started to be able to get eggs at the supermarket from free range hens, but I imagine these are still not comparable to the quality you’d find at a farmer’s market.
Fascinating stuff! I would love to have a few chickens in our back yard simply to have the supply of fresh eggs, but have come up against the stumbling block of the long, cold Ottawa winter.
As an aside, I recently noticed that brown eggs from the same supplier cost more than white in our local grocery store. I have no idea why!
Thanks for the enlightening post!
i had always wondered exactly the same thing
What howling duck ranch said.
Different chickens = different eggs.
I only buy brown and organic and pay $5.59 for a dozen each time because they TASTE LIKE REAL EGGS!
If i could buy from a local farmer, I would. Or have my own chicken.
DaniGirl—as for the long, cold, Ottawa winters, you can build (or buy a kitset) chicken house and insulate it. The chickens will be fine. They are very hearty. Also, you may want to look into the only true Canadian breed called the Chantecler chicken. There are breeders who are maintaining this heritage breed in Ontario and Quebec. It was purposefully bred by a Monk in Oka, Quebec to stand the eastern Canadian cold winters. Check out this site for more information and breeder leads:
http://www.cfagrf.com/Chantecler_chicken.htm
Helping to maintain this endangered heritage breed, even in a backyard, would be a worthwhile cause and provide you with the best eggs you’ll ever taste… Good luck!
Why do with some eggs they are hard to peel?
I had no idea so much process went into Eggs. I would love to answer your brown eggs theory but have none. If I had to guess, it would be that commercial eggs are processed differently, or maybe in what the chickens eat (more chemicals)? Again, just a guess.