URBANDALE, Iowa — The work of Iowa’s egg farmers is the core of a vital egg industry in the state, says an economic impact study conducted by Iowa State University. The Iowa Egg Council has now worked with Iowa State to take the results of this study and package in an easy-to follow brochure highlighting this great story for Iowa’s egg community. For a copy contact info@iowaegg.org.
- Providing jobs, economic activity
Iowa egg farmers generate work in egg production resulting in 7,100 Iowa jobs created by the egg industry. The Iowa egg industry supports 1.9 additional jobs for each of the 2,400 jobs directly created in egg production.
According to the recent economic report, the Iowa egg industry contributes more than $2 billion in total sales, more than $450 million in labor income and nearly $47.9 million in total tax revenues to Iowa.
Iowa’s egg farmers lead the nation in egg production, caring for nearly 58 million laying hens producing approximately 16 billion eggs per year. Iowa’s egg farmers achieve this incredible level of production by providing the utmost care for their hens. The number of eggs produced in Iowa are enough to feed eggs to 56 million U.S. consumers. Additionally, Iowa egg farmers process more eggs than any other state in the United States, with eggs being made into frozen, liquid, dried, or specialty egg products.
A balanced chicken’s diet contains energy and amino acids, which come from corn and soybean meal diets. An average laying hen consumes 0.42 bushels of soybeans year and consumes 1 bushel of corn per year. Both numbers include the feed for growing the pullets. This number changes each year as production and consumption numbers fluctuate.
There are several reasons that Iowa is the nation’s number one producer of eggs, the IEC noted, adding that the state’s egg farmers not only have great pride in their farming history, they have built upon the experiences of that history and combine it with using new research and technology to become more efficient in producing nutritious, safe and delicious eggs.
