PHOTO: Kipster Farm, North Manchester, Indiana.
By Sandra Vijn
Kipster is a forward-thinking award-winning Dutch egg farmer. In 2017, they introduced the world’s first carbon-neutral egg to the Netherlands. Now, the eggs from the first American Kipster farm are available at King Soopers in Colorado – with rapid scaling across the country to follow.
Kipster thanks Kroger and MPS Egg Farms for partnering with Kipster to bring this revolutionary and sustainable form of egg farming to the USA.
Here are seven groundbreaking reasons why egg farming is being transformed:
1. Kipster achieves carbon neutrality by first reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions internally as much as possible. Any remaining emissions are then offset by supporting external carbon reduction projects. The eggs’ CarbonNeutral® product (not including use) certification means that Kipster is following The CarbonNeutral Protocol – in a clear, transparent and credible manner.
2. By using upcycled feed, Kipster aims to avoid using land to grow crops for their chickens. “Growing crops to feed animals is an inefficient way to feed humans,” says Kipster’s Managing Director for the U.S., Sandra Vijn. “To produce eggs, you traditionally need a lot of corn and soy to feed the birds. If people ate these crops directly, we would need much less land and even have a food surplus – the planet would thank us. The current system, while considered ‘normal’, has many flaws.” Humans and farm animals should never have to compete for food.
3. Kipster chickens turn surplus food into healthy, fresh, and nutritious food for humans. They eat a newly developed feed that is made of (over 85 percent) surplus and by-products from crop and food processing, such as oat hulls and faulty pasta products. The resulting upcycled feed has a carbon footprint that’s about half that of conventional layer chicken feed. In this way, farm animals contribute to a sustainable and healthy food system and environment – as opposed to being a burden.
“Choosing Simple Truth + Kipster cage-free eggs is an easy way for our customers to help create a more sustainable food system,” says Denise Osterhues, Kroger’s senior director of Sustainability and Social Impact. “The Kipster system aligns with Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social and environmental impact plan and mission to advance positive changes for people and our planet. We focus on advancing sustainability and animal welfare in ways that also help maintain access to fresh, affordable foods for everyone.”
4. In close collaboration with scientists and animal welfare organizations, the Kipster Farm was designed for chickens and their needs. Layer hens are forest birds, and the farm is set up for them to carry out their natural behaviors.
The farm’s futuristic form follows its function of allowing chickens to roam outside or in an indoor playground filled with daylight and fresh air. With such a varied and enriched environment, beaks do not need to be trimmed.
“Kipster’s egg farming model offers extraordinary transparency and a holistic commitment to animals’ wellbeing that the public is seeking and which animals deserve,” says Nancy Roulston, senior director of corporate policy and animal science, ASPCA Farm Animal Welfare. “The ASPCA applauds Kipster’s innovative work to prove that higher welfare, sustainable farming can be achieved at scale, and we are proud to include their eggs on our Shop With Your Heart list.”
The egg cartons bear the Certified Humane® logo and are recognized by Shop With Your Heart®, a program by the ASPCA that helps shoppers identify and find more humane groceries.
5. Whether eggs are organic, free-range, or cage-free, the same number of laying hens and roosters are born every day in the world of egg farming. The male chicks born into the system are an unwanted byproduct because they – obviously – can’t lay eggs. Around 300 million one-day-old roosters are killed every year in the U.S. At Kipster, the brothers of the layers are raised in more friendly homes before being sent to a slaughterhouse for human consumption.
6. The Kipster farm is the first in the U.S. to wash the air that leaves the barns. This removes dust, odor, ammonia, and other undesirable particles. Before the air leaves the barn, its heat is recovered by a heat pump which preheats incoming fresh air. Combined with the innovative ventilation system in the barn this lowers emissions significantly and creates a better in-house climate for both farmer and bird.
7. In the interests of transparency, there is a 24/7 livestream of the Kipster farm. Anyone can watch the hens online. Kipster has nothing to hide. Drop by and visit the farm visitor center at the farm in North Manchester, Indiana – complete with small exhibition.
Kipster Eggs are sold co-branded with Kroger’s label as Simple Truth + Kipster. The eggs are now available at King Soopers in Colorado.
With more barns now being built in Indiana, Kipster eggs will be available in more places in late spring 2023.
Sandra Vijn is Managing Director, Kipster U.S.
Image bank: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NWP2ypEy4tGkCXbu9
About Kipster: KIPSTER
A group of chickens in a barn
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©Tony Reidsma/Kroger