DENVER — A new egg farmer cooperative in the western United States intends to bring sustainability and supply chain stability to its customers through its eight independent shell egg production members. ProEgg, a farmer cooperative formed under the Capper-Volstead Act, will serve 13 states, and is committed to providing retail and foodservice shell egg customers with collaborative solutions that will help stabilize the shell egg supply in this period of high egg demand.
The eight companies that are members of the cooperative are recognized leaders in egg production. They include Cal-Maine Foods Inc.; Central Valley Eggs LLC; Colorado Egg LLC; Hickman’s Egg Ranch Inc.; Oakdell Egg Farms Inc.; Opal Foods LLC; Ritewood Inc.; and Willamette Egg Farms LLC.
The companies together will aggregate and sell shell eggs through the ProEgg cooperative throughout the 13-state region. The cooperative has hired its first CEO, Ric Herrera, an egg industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in the food business, who will lead sales and operations.
“The formation of ProEgg is a deliberate response by our members to an ever-changing egg market,” Herrera said. “Combining production under the cooperative umbrella will promote stability within the egg supply chain, create contingencies to avoid supply disruption, develop sustainable logistics and maximize the available egg volume in the region.”
ProEgg will begin serving customers in 2023 and will be headquartered in Aurora, Colo. The cooperative serves Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
For more information about the cooperative, visit https://proegg.com.
