The State of Arizona intends to establish a rule regulating the housing of egg production flocks comprising over 20,000 laying hens.  The rule would effectively apply to Rose Acre Farms with an aviary unit in western Arizona and Hickman’s Egg Ranch with multiple locations in the state. 

The Rose Acre Farms, Lone Cactus Complex would not be impacted as it is entirely a cage-free aviary complex.  With respect to Hickman’s Egg Ranch, at least a quarter of capacity has already been converted to cage-free housing. 

The proposed rule would require transition to cage-free housing by 2025 in contrast to a suggested initiative I-01-2022 that would require a compliance date of May 2023, regarded as infeasible.  Surrounding and other western states including California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have enacted legislation requiring that eggs produced and sold in these states would be derived from hens housed under cage-free management.  If the ballot initiative were to be enacted, Hickman’s Egg Ranch would be forced to deplete flocks creating the certainty of an egg shortage with a consequential sharp increase in the price to consumers in Arizona.