In recent years, the number of farms with small flocks of laying hens (100 - 3,000 hens) has increased. This increase has been observed in both the organic and conventional sectors and logically also causes an increase in so-called dirty, cracked and S eggs (smallest size), which are not considered marketable. The industrial utilisation of such eggs, which is common for large flocks of laying hens, is not an option for small farms because the volume is too small.
The study carried out between January 2020 and September 2022 investigated the recycling options for non-marketable eggs from small production units. The study focused on organic farms (association and EU organic) and conventional free-range farms.
The publications are currently being revised and are therefore not available.
The project partners were Bioland Beratung GmbH and Demeter e.V. and the project was financed by the Federal Programme "Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture" (BÖLN). The client was the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
