The Egg Industry Center (EIC) at Iowa State University has released results of a study that seeks to fill an 18-year-old gap in information important to the U.S. egg industry. The research helps egg farmers analyze their costs of washing, weighing, packaging and transporting their eggs, EIC said.

“We call it the processing, cartoning and transportation, or PCT, study,” said Maro Ibarburu, associate scientist and business analyst for EIC. “The results tell us that egg farmers typically spend 43-49 cents for every dozen eggs on these costs. The data we collected from late 2018 shows that this cost has increased 80% during the last 18 years. 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, a poultry specialist with the University of California. His work covered California egg farmers and their costs. Because that was the only research available, the entire U.S. industry has used it ever since then, EIC said.

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

The study can be found at the EIC website and was launched, in part, due to interest from industry organizations.

EIC 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.

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