We always give it to you straight. We want you to make educated decisions about the food you put on your table. We also know this stuff is personal – it is to us too – and being part of a community that is working hard to raise the standards, we know that we won’t all agree on everything. We’re fine with that, as long as all of the facts are clear.
Our community is asking some great questions about how much time the hens spend on pasture, what the girls eat, pricing, and how going public in 2020 impacted our standards. We’re compiling answers here into one response, and we’ve updated our FAQ page to make sure this is easy to find.
So here are more facts.
You asked us if the hens go outside every day.
Our birds have always had year-round access to pastures with 108 square feet of pasture per bird. They’re happier and healthier when they spend time outside and it allows them to express their natural behaviors, but we don’t force them out there. When the hens first arrive at the farms, we train them to go on pasture, and every morning when we open up the doors on the barns, we see them heading out. The easiest way to understand this is in human terms – we’re happier and healthier when we get time outside, but it would create a lot of stress if someone was literally forcing us out there. It’s similar for the hens.
You asked us why we use corn and soy in the supplemental feed that the chickens eat.
We covered this in our last video, but the simplest answer is that it’s good for the hens. Laying hens can’t get all the nutrients they need just by foraging, they require supplemental feed to meet their nutritional needs, including protein. Corn and soy have the right nutrients and they’re widely available across our network of 575+ family farms. A lot of our farmers get their feed from local feed mills in their communities, and we use a system that works across all of our farms to maintain our high standards.
You asked us if we have plans to shift away from corn and soy in our feed.
Right now, we’re not planning to do that. The biggest reason is that corn and soy are good for the hens (see above). We have looked into alternatives to corn and soy, and we continue to do that. There are some alternatives out there like fish-based feed or black soldier fly larvae, which wouldn’t work across our network of family farms and would drive up costs for farmers and consumers.
You asked us if we’ve changed our standards since going public in 2020.
Our pasture raised standards have not changed— they’ve just scaled across hundreds more family farms and communities. But across our business, the standards actually have changed – they’ve gotten higher. For example, our egg washing and packing facility in Springfield, Missouri has continually reduced waste and supported more jobs in the community. We’re also scaling more regenerative farming practices across all of our farms, which we committed to in 2023. You can read more about how we’re raising the standards in our latest impact report (link).
You asked us if Blackrock owns Vital Farms.
We listed on the NASDAQ in 2020, which means anyone can buy VITL shares. Blackrock and other investment groups own shares, as do our crew (this is what we call employees), who receive annual grants regardless of title or seniority, from our most junior team members to our CEO. If you want to better understand some of our core financials, look at our investor page: investors.vitalfarms.com. It’s all open to the public.
You asked us why our eggs are more expensive than other options in most grocery stores.
Our price reflects our commitment to Conscious Capitalism and enables us to create long-term value with all of our stakeholders. We work with the best family farmers in the business, we believe they deserve fair pay for their hard work, and we want to pay them a competitive wage. We also have around 600 crew across our Egg Central Station and remote workforce who work hard every day to raise the standards. Our retail customers (like your local grocery store) need to run a profitable business to continue serving their local communities. And shareholders deserve a fair return on their investment. In fact, if you want to know more about our commitments to investors, take a look at our latest commitments, which we announced in December – it’s all available on our investor page.
