Over the past decade, producers have skillfully persuaded consumers to pay four times the price for a dozen eggs that are marketed as good for you (organic) or as much as seven times the cost for eggs raised under conditions considered better for the animals that laid them (pasture-raised and hand-harvested).
That’s no mean feat, given that a carton of conventional eggs can still be had for less than $1. But savvy marketing has resulted in so-called specialty eggs grabbing about a third of the market today, and they’re projected to hit 70% in five years.
Now, [farmer Larry] Brown and his peers are betting they can profit further by adding another layer of premiumization: eggs from a special type of sustainable farm that can be trumpeted as being better for the planet.
These eggs, which are making their debut now on shelves for as much as $8 a dozen, are still labeled organic and animal-friendly, but they’re also from birds that live on farms using regenerative agriculture—special techniques to cultivate rich soils that can trap greenhouse gases.
If the sustainable-egg rollout is successful, it could open the floodgates for regenerative beef, broccoli, and beyond.
