Hidden Villa Ranch Expands Specialty Egg Production

Hidden Villa Ranch is committing to add 600,000 birds over the next year for production across the country to avoid shorting on specialty cage-free, free-range, non-GMO, organic and pasture-raised eggs. Across the country egg shorting in the specialty egg category has become a problem for retailers, say officials from Hidden Villa Ranch; with the price of commodity eggs on the rise, they are closing the gap in cost between specialty eggs such as the popular cage-free eggs. Consumers not seeing a significant difference in price, specialty eggs have surged in sales, they add. Hidden Villa Ranch is addressing the specialty egg shorting problem by building 25-30 laying hen barns on 15 different farms in at least eight different states that will host 600,000 birds. The flocks will be a combination of cage-free, free-rage, non-GMO, organic and pasture raised birds. The initial family farms for the expansion project are located in California, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. “We see incredible up trends in the specialty egg industry and we are gearing up to fill that consumer demand,” says Jasen Urena, director of specialty eggs at Hidden Villa Ranch and Nest Fresh Eggs. “By adding more production our retailers will not need to worry about egg shorting in their specialty egg sections. We will have a dedicated supply with no interruptions.” Recently, Hidden Villa Ranch acquired Texas-based Soncrest Egg Farm, expanding their personnel by 25 and adding 300,000 birds to production capabilities.  The company is continuing to add small family farmers to their network to expand production. Hidden Villa Ranch is the parent company that includes many egg brands including Horizon Organic Eggs, The Country Hen and NestFresh cage-free eggs, the first nationally distributed egg line to receive the Non-GMO Project Verified seal from the Non-GMO Project and the only egg brand to offer liquid and dry egg products that are also Non-GMO Project Verified for retail, food service and manufacturing.