DION (pictured) and Anne Andary pride themselves on their sustainable egg production farm Days Eggs at Lower Light, labelling it as being innovative. 

Out of the 15-odd commercial egg farms across the state, the husband-and-wife business partners produce 450,000-500,000 eggs a day from their half a million hens, one of the largest-volume egg producers in South Australia.

What began 32 years ago as a car garage housing 400 chicken on Two Wells Road has now corporatised and expanded to accommodate sustainable and modern practices. 

Dion confirmed eggs were a protein with very little carbon footprint, unlike sheep or cattle that require big volumes of grass and produce high numbers of methane gases. 

Days Eggs has improved its water efficiency systems to recycle and purify the farm’s water runoff to feed back to the chickens and water trees, while Dion and Anne are also looking to one day install solar panels to improve their high energy usage.

Dion and his team are also looking for alternatives to plastic trays used to wash the eggs, and hope to swap their petrol delivery trucks to an electric alternative. 

“We’re bringing in different innovations to meet the needs of our consumers and we have to embrace it and run with it to the best of our ability,” Dion said.

These changes were prompted by the Australian Eggs’ annual report, which tracks the progress of the Australian Egg Industry’s sustainability framework.

The report cycle began in 2017 to inform Australians and to guide ongoing industry improvement.

Over four years, Australian Eggs engaged social science researchers to conduct comprehensive annual national community surveys to explore the Australian public’s attitudes and opinions towards the egg industry and identify drivers of trust and acceptance.

A factor included in this report was transparency, something the industry has been moving towards since eggs were demonised by the medical field as “unhealthy”. 

“Back in the ’70s or ’80s, eggs got a really bad rap, but it’s been proven now that’s quite incorrect,” Dion said. 

“That idea had to start to permeate throughout society with education and information, the medical profession has gradually made people realise. 

Looking at the economic and health benefits of eggs, they are the closest thing to perfect protein and are very healthy as far as the vitamins and minerals in them.”

Hen welfare was also a factor monitored in the report, as animal rights concerns have grown over many agricultural food industries and their treatment of the stock.

Particularly with eggs, Dion acknowledged consumer and market buyer trends leant heavily towards free-range eggs over caged or barn-laid. 

“We have our own specialist poultry welfare manager, who is charged with the responsibility of every aspect of compliance with the birds,” Dion said

“We lay our eggs directly with our veterinary services, liaise directly with RSPCA and their standards and we are audited; almost a dozen audits a year.

“We want to be the best at what we do, and part of that is to make sure the welfare of the hens is paramount.

‘We’ve grown the business to meet the growing demand for free-range.

“We meet all the criteria for all eggs, but generally speaking, the marking is trending towards free-range.”

While people want the “warm and fuzzy” feeling of buying free-range eggs, Dion compared the production pros and cons of caged chickens versus free-range.

“We have to, as producers, try and meet that demand and juggle the health and behavioural requirements un-caged birds need,” he said.

“From a political and social perspective, caged-eggs will be phased out. 

“Chickens were put into cages and became the best form of production, from a productivity point of view. 

Behaviourally, the chickens like it, they’re protected and don’t have to worry about predators, diseases in the ground and parasites.”

All Days Eggs chickens are housed in temperature-controlled sheds, with easy access to plenty of food and water, and their free-range birds roam outside. 

But the report stated 56 per cent of Australians agreed last year that egg prices would need to increase to improve the welfare conditions of hens, a sentiment Dion partly agrees with by claiming compliance was an expensive process.

“If you’re trying to drag the whole industry into compliance, there’s a lot of people that wouldn’t be able to afford to do what we do and so they would need more money,” he said.

“If you don’t spend the money to do it well, there’s no point in having it and people will take shortcuts which means the quality of the product can be effected.

“If consumers want compliance and a standard of welfare, it’s got to be paid for.”

Days Eggs supply most supermarkets with their eggs, and can vouch for supplying a safe, fresh product across the state.