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New Egg Research Underway

AMES, Iowa — The Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University awarded three grants totaling over $186K as part of its 2018 EIC Research Grant Award Program. Award winners have started work researching hen welfare as it relates to environmental impact, identification of unknown bacteria within a disease model, and caretaker knowledge.

Funded research grants include:

University of British Columbia, for work to develop methods and indicators for considering animal welfare outcomes in life cycle assessments (LCA) – specifically in regard to the type of housing system used. This research is led by Dr. Nathan Pelletier, assistant professor and Egg Farmers of Canada Industrial Chair in Sustainability.

University of Georgia, for research using gene sequencing to identify an unknown bacteria present in the lesions of hens affected with Focal Duodenal Necrosis (FDN) to create a representative disease challenge model for industry. This project is led by Dr. Monique Franca, assistant professor of population health and pathology.

Iowa State University, to create a template for identifying and responding to gaps in caretaker knowledge and skills resulting in short situation-based educational models. This work is led by Dr. Yuko Sato, assistant professor in diagnostic and production animal medicine.

The Egg Industry Center grant program funds research to help answer industry challenges through scientifically based solutions. The center has funded 22 research projects at 11 universities totaling over $1.2 million, since 2013. Completed research has helped to advance knowledge in virus transmission, genetic resistance, keel bone abnormalities, new market development and more.

For more information about partnering with the Egg Industry Center to support research funding, or to find more information on completed and on-going research, visit the center’s research webpage.

Iowa State University Names New Director of Egg Industry Center

October 31, 2019

AMES, Iowa — Richard Gates has been named director of the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University.

Gates, currently a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will start his new duties with the center on Jan. 1.

He also will be the holder the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professorship at Iowa State.

“Dr. Gates is a well-respected scientist and engineer with a strong track record of working with livestock and poultry industries,” said Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Endowed Dean’s Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State. “Under Dr. Gates’ leadership, the Egg Industry Center will build on its excellent programs that address important issues for the nation’s egg producers.”

“It’s a distinct honor to have been selected as director of the Egg Industry Center,” said Gates. “I am excited by this opportunity to further advance the center’s core mission of globally relevant research and education, and to again work at Iowa State, where I spent a productive and enjoyable sabbatical year in 2000-2001.”

Gates has been a faculty member at University of Illinois since 2008. His research has focused on controlled environment systems in agriculture, with an emphasis on biological and physiological responses and interactions between animals and the environment. He also has studied animal welfare, precision livestock farming and post-harvest loss measurements.

His extension work has focused on the application of research to air emissions and their mitigation, odor and siting issues, livestock environmental control systems, and livestock heat stress reduction. Gates also has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in probability, statistics, thermal environmental engineering, controlled environment systems and more.

Gates’ past experience with the egg industry includes serving as chair of the United Egg Producers’ environmental research subcommittee and working on the American Egg Board’s project on the social sustainability of U.S. egg production.

Before joining the University of Illinois, Gates served 24 years on the faculty of the University of Kentucky’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, including five years as department chair.

Gates is a fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

Gates earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in agricultural engineering and a doctorate in biological engineering, both from Cornell University.

Susan Lamont will continue to serve as the center’s interim director through December. Lamont, a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Department of Animal Science, was named interim director in March 2019.

The Egg Industry Center works to add value to the nation’s egg industry by providing research and education for egg producers, processors and consumers through national and international collaboration. The center is committed to ensuring that the current and future needs of the egg industry can be answered through developing and promoting sound science-based information. The Egg Industry Center has funded more than $1 million in research since 2013. This research has helped advance knowledge on disease transmission, genetic resistance, keel bone abnormalities, new market development and more. For information about partnering with the Egg Industry Center to support research funding, or to find more information on completed and ongoing research, visit the center’s website www.eggindustrycenter.org.

EIC Launches Special Report

AMES, Iowa — The Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University has released a study that seeks to fill an 18-year-old gap in information important to the U.S. egg industry.

“We call it the processing, cartoning and transportation, or PCT study,” said Maro Ibarburu, associate scientist and business analyst for the Egg Industry Center (EIC). “The results tell us that egg farmers typically spend 43-49 cents for every dozen eggs on these costs.”

The study helps egg farmers analyze their costs of washing, weighing, packaging and transporting their eggs and was launched in part due to interest from industry organizations.

“The data we collected from late 2018 shows that this cost has increased 80% during the last 18 years,” Ibarburu said. “While that may seem like a lot, given the changes in regulations and regular inflation, a cumulative 3.3% per year is not unreasonable.”

The last study was completed in 2000, by the late Don Bell of the University of California – Davis. His work covered only California egg farmers and their costs. Because that was the only data available, the entire U.S. industry has used it ever since.

“EIC is happy to help arm today’s egg farmers with current, scientifically-based information to help them advance their operations,” Ibarburu said.

The Egg Industry Center was established at Iowa State in 2008. Its mission is to add value to the egg industry by facilitating research and learning for egg producers, processors and consumers through national and international collaboration. To find more information on the center, visit www.eggindustrycenter.org.

New Interim Director Named

March 25, 2019

Iowa State University has named Susan J. Lamont, a C.F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences and animal science professor, as the Egg Industry Center’s interim director effective April 1. Lamont will succeed Hongwei Xin, who was director of the center since its inception in 2008.

Lamont’s career began in 1975, and she is now a fellow of the Poultry Science Association. Her career includes great accomplishments such as grant awards total over $20 million, training of over 40 students and being the author/co-author of over 400 publications.

Please join us at the 2019 Egg Industry Issues Forum, April 16-17 in Kansas City, MO to offer Dr. Xin best wishes and welcome Dr. Lamont.

EIC Recognizes President Wintersteen

In a private ceremony on March 5, 2019, the Egg Industry Center Advisory Board gave special recognition to one of its founding board members, ISU President Wendy Wintersteen.

As Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at Iowa State University, Wintersteen was key to the development of the Egg Industry Center (EIC), launched in 2008, and its continued growth over the past ten years. “She has been very instrumental to developing the center to where it is today,” Center Director, Dr. Hongwei Xin said. “The president has really played a key role working with our stakeholders, supporting us financially, and providing her commitment and dedication to developing this magnificent center.”

Vice Chairman of the EIC Advisory Board, Blair Van Zetten, President of Oskaloosa Food Products Corporation located in Oskaloosa, Iowa, recognized Winterseen’s tenacity when it came to starting the center. “I know at the beginning [creating the center] was not an easy go – it was a great idea, and it took fortitude and intensity to get it done,” Van Zetten said. “The drive and passion you had I am absolutely appreciative of, and I think everybody in the industry is as well. Thank you on behalf of everyone.”

President Wintersteen passed her seat on the EIC board to Daniel J. Robison, the new Endowed Dean’s Chair of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University.

Photo Caption: Xin and Van Zetten present Winterseen a token of appreciation for her time serving on the Egg Industry Center Advisory Board.

EIC Awards Total to Over $1 Million

New Research Funded by Egg Industry Center Brings Award Total to Over $1 Million

AMES, Iowa — The Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University has awarded three new research grants totaling $212,918, bringing its total for egg research funding to more than $1 million since 2013.

The latest recipients of Egg Industry Center grants are:

Pennsylvania State University, for a $89,917 grant on research into the infectiveness, transmission and response to disinfectant treatment of three emerging strains of disease-causing avian reovirus, led by Dr. Huaguang Lu, clinical professor and avian virologist.

Mississippi State University, for a $85,605 study on the use of robots for the collection of floor eggs in open-housing systems and the effect of the robot’s presence on behavior of birds, led by Yang Zhao, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

Iowa State University, for a $37,396 grant on research examining how different housing systems affect gastrointestinal bacterial communities and overall bird health, led by Dawn Koltes, adjunct assistant professor of animal science.

“The Egg Industry Center is proud to help the industry address important questions by investing over $1 million in research grants in the past five years,” said Hongwei Xin, director of the center and assistant dean for research with Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “We want to thank the industry visionaries who could foresee the benefits of a program like this and what it could provide to the industry; we look forward to sharing additional research results as more studies are completed.”

The Egg Industry Center grant program funds research to help answer industry challenges through scientifically based solutions. The center has funded 19 research projects at 10 universities since 2013. Completed research has helped to advance knowledge in virus transmission, genetic resistance, keel bone abnormalities, new market development and more.

Funded research in progress includes work on factors predisposing disease, enhanced building ventilation and air filtration systems, the effect of using ramps in aviary housing systems and a microbiome comparison of laying hens living in different housing systems.

For more information about partnering with the Egg Industry Center to support research funding, or to find more information on completed and on-going research, visit the center’s research webpage.

Summary Unveiled on 2017 Egg Research

AMES, Iowa — The Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University has released its first year-in-review research report featuring 22 new, ongoing or completed research projects.

The report provides brief takeaway messages for egg farmers and others on research that has been conducted by center researchers or by researchers who have been funded through its grant program. It also points readers to on-line resources that feature additional research details and media coverage of the projects.

“It is gratifying to see the work of so many people come together and yield real results for the entire egg industry,” said Hongwei Xin, Egg Industry Center (EIC) director and assistant dean for research at Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

For example, the report includes:

Auburn University’s completed research on the role of litter beetles, water, feed and rodents on the transmission of avian influenza;
Egg Industry Center on-going research on the potential mitigation of ammonia and particulate matter generated in cage-free laying hen housing systems, and;
Iowa State’s newly funded research comparing the gut and lung microbiome of laying hens raised in different housing systems.

While the center started in 2008, it was not until 2013 that its research endowment funds reached a level that could support research projects. The center is working to reach its $10 million endowment goal for research, but the dividends already being paid keep growing.

“Producer and researcher impacts are exactly why we created EIC, and it is encouraging to see it come to fruition in such a short timeframe,” Xin said. “I believe we will begin to see tangible ways that the EIC funding is increasingly impacting the careers of researchers, especially junior faculty members.”

The Egg Industry Center is focused on providing value to the U.S. egg industry through information dissemination and collaborative research efforts. The center is committed to ensuring that the current and future needs of the egg industry can be answered through sound science-based information. To find more information on the center, visit www.eggindustrycenter.org.

EIC Educates the Next Generation

The Egg Industry Center (EIC) had the unique opportunity to expose a group of fourteen high school students and five adults from Florida to the egg industry. The tour began at the ISU Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center. The topic of “what is good egg quality?” was covered by ISU Poultry Farm Manager Cameron Hall. During that time the students experienced cracking and examining eggs to learn about internal egg structure. They also participated in a candling exercise to determine what “Grade A” eggs should look like.

“I really enjoyed learning all about the egg industry!” – Carter Howell, student

Next, the group headed to the EIC office for a presentation by Lesa Vold, EIC communications specialist. The topics discussed were the history of the U.S. egg industry, hen housing types, the results of the 50-year environmental footprint research, the coalition for sustainable egg supply research outcomes, current challenges the industry is facing today and U.S. and global trends in egg consumption and production. Throughout the presentation the students were keen, asking numerous questions to better understand the industry. Having no poultry/egg background themselves, this tour stop provided a perfect opportunity for EIC to educate the next generation of consumers about what it takes to makes their food system sustainable for the future.

The visiting students were part of a summer agriculture trip, consisting of students from various high schools in Florida. Additional tour stops included various other commodity groups and industries such as the Purina Research Farm in Missouri, the Monsanto Biotech Facility, Brennemine Pork, an Amish community, a robotic dairy farm and the home of Mark Twain.

“I was very interested in the production of eggs and learning about it all. I also enjoyed the presentation about the different types of ways producers house the hens.” – Caleb Malec, student

EIC Assists in Creation of Emissions Estimator Tools

The Egg Industry Center has recently worked with United Egg Producers and their environmental consultant, Tom Hebert, to find a solution for egg farmers who will need to begin reporting ammonia emissions maybe as soon as June 2, 2017. This reporting requirement is due to a change in the 2008 ruling that provided exemptions to all animal feeding operations from reporting under CERCLA (the Comprehensive Emergency Response Compensation and Liability Act) and EPCRA (the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act). This change means that animal feeding operations with ammonia emissions in excess of 100 pounds per day need to report to federal, state and local authorities.

The first step in this process is for facilities to know if the parameters of their facility cause them to have to report. To estimate emissions based on the different types of operations, several ammonia estimator tools have been developed. They can be used as follows:

Layer Ammonia Emissions Estimator Tool can be customized by housing type, inventory and manure storage system. (NOTE: Cage-free floor system barns with no manure removal system should use this form using the high-rise housing system fields to calculate their emissions.)
Pullet Ammonia Emissions Estimator Tool for Weekly Site Removal can be customized by pullet age and is based on daily manure removal from the living spaces and weekly removal from the farm.
Pullet Ammonia Emissions Estimator Tool can be customized by put age and manure removal for either no or long-term on-site manure storage.

These tools, and any subsequent updates, are housed in the EIC Research Library under the Environment topic area.

New Research Funded by EIC

The Egg Industry Center located at Iowa State University recently approved funding for five new egg research projects. These awards conclude the provision of funding for 15 projects totaling nearly $885,000 since the Center started its award program in 2013. Funds have been provided to researchers at nine different U.S. universities based on their proposals to the Egg Industry Center Advisory Board. Newly funded egg research projects include:

Cage-free housing ventilation options to reduce disease spread, improve air auality and enhance bird welfare led by Dr. Eileen Fabian located at Penn State University.
Comparison of gut and lung microbiomes of hens raised in conventional and cage-free houses to determine disease susceptibility led by Dr. Melha Mellata located at Iowa State University.
Development of feasible methods to extract immune-enhancing yolk IgY and produce differentiated and functional yolk products led by Dr. Tong Wang located at Iowa State University.
Analysis of sequence data of survivors and controls from highly pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks led by Dr. Anna Wolc of Iowa State University.
Improving the transition between rear and lay environments to improve welfare and productivity of aviary-housed laying hens led by Dr. Janice Siegford of Michigan State University.

The first EIC-funded project finalized its research recently and was reported on at the 2017 Egg Industry Issues Forum in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Maja Makagon of UC-Davis presented highlights of her research related to keel bone damage.

EIC was proud to partner with the Iowa Poultry Association to make this information available in their recent member newsletter. EIC encourages your dissemination of the information we post. If you have questions regarding re-use of this information, please contact us.