SALT LAKE CITY In an effort to head off potentially more restrictive measures, Utah egg-producers have been working with legislators on a bill mandating a cage-free environment for hens by 2025. Without egg farmers being a part of this conversation, policy would have been written into law that would not be aligned with our production standards and animal husbandry principles, and placed on a timeline to compliance that would be both physically and financially unattainable as a family farm and as an industry, Jeremy Rigtrup, owner and operator of Rigtrup Egg Farm, said.
The driving factor for SB147, sponsored by Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, is to provide commercial egg producers with time before a ballot referendum mandating stricter rules could get filed in Utah as has happened in other states, he said.