(703)435-3883 info@certifiedhumane.org PO Box 82 Middleburg, VA 20118

The Country Hen

 – Hubbardston, Massachusetts

Established in 1987, The Country Hen® farm is located on 35-acres in the small town of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, population 4,500. The farm, which features 105,000 laying hens, is idyllically located between the largest reservoir (Quabbin) in the state and two tracts of forest land managed by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game and Wildlife Preservation agencies.

“Our location in this temperate climate zone was most responsible for the breeds of hens we care for – Hyline Brown, Isa Brown, and Bovan Brown hens – who have hardier constitutions that make them better suited to seasonal weather changes,” says Bob Beauregard, General Manager for The Country Hen farm. “Regardless, we still need to provide our hens with heated homes when winter settles in.

Beginning a career in farming

Bob served in the U.S. Navy and worked at a steel plant and a pallet manufacturing plant before landing a job at The Country Hen farm in 1995 as the feed and operations manager. “It was a great fit that allowed me to put my experience with mechanical equipment to rewarding and spiritually fulfilling practical use,” says Bob.

Bob says he learned everything there is to know about caring for laying hens from the farm’s founder, George Bass, who spent a lifetime caring for farm animals. By age nine, George was raising a pig, some piglets, a steer, some turkeys, and laying hens on his family’s property in Bridgeton New Jersey. As an adult, George founded and ran a conventional egg production business called “The Golden Egg” for many years in Bogotá, Columbia. Looking forward to retirement, he sold that business and returned to the U.S.

“But George was never one to sit idle, and before long he decided he missed caring for animals and the farming lifestyle,” says Bob. “He started looking for a small farm to raise hens, and settled on Hubbardston, Massachusetts.”

Before the advent of the internet or social media, George included little notes, now called Farm News inserts, in each carton of eggs. Since 1989, these inserts have educated consumers on what makes The Country Hen farm’s eggs so special and what’s happening on the farm. “These inserts have been so successful, other producers have copied the practice,” says Bob. “That is the highest form of flattery.”

Ensuring the welfare of laying hen

George turned the farm over to Bob in 2003. Bob admits there have been a lot of changes in public perception, certification standards and egg safety regulations since then “that keeps us on our toes,” says Bob. “Cage-Free and Certified Organic egg production is very different and offers many more challenges than conventional production. We strive to meet or exceed the exacting standards for egg safety set down by the FDA, and the standards required to be certified organic through the USDA, and to meet or exceed all rules, regulations and civic responsibilities that are unique to our location.”

For example, Bob says the farm is extra vigilant in preventing contamination of the soil and groundwater from things like nitrogen, phosphorus, Salmonella Enteriditis and other biological contaminants that can be very harmful to human health and the environment. So, they created a manure management program to prevent contamination of the groundwater.

The need to prevent contamination of the water inspired the development of their “porch system,” which provides safe outdoor access for the hens on specially-designed raised, wooden porches. These porches manage the manure safely by virtually eliminating all risk of run-off carrying any contaminants into the public drinking water supply. “The most fundamental basic purpose behind organic farming is and has always been a crusade to preserve natural resources of soil, water and air,” says Bob.

The farm also implements stringent biosecurity measures to preserve the health and well-being of their laying hens. They developed a tiered biosecurity system that not only shelters their hens from exposure to disease but responds to changes in the threat levels that come twice a year with the annual migration of wild waterfowl that are known carriers of Avian Influenza and other devastating diseases.

“In our efforts to ramp up our biosecurity during the Avian Influenza endemic of 2015, we left no stone unturned when exploring ways to keep our ladies safe from their wild waterfowl cousins migrating overhead,” says Bob. “We purchased some coyote decoy manikins to deter waterfowl from coming too close to the man-made pond that serves as a source of water for firefighters to use in the event of a fire. It seemed to be working well enough as we saw no geese or ducks landing near the water after we positioned our artificial “guard dogs.” It turns out that turkeys are a bit more difficult to fool. They decided the decoy coyote manikins were very comfortable places to perch and they sat right on top of them. We had to add a few fake owls, and some Mylar balloons that look like giant eyes to encourage the turkeys to move along elsewhere.”

Meeting Certified Humane Animal Care Standards

The staff inspect the hen’s living environment multiple times each day, monitoring and recording ambient temperature, air quality, feed levels, and water quality. Blood tests are conducted at intervals during the hen’s development, and all of this is reviewed and checked regularly by a veterinarian.

When The Country Hen farm joined the Certified Humane program in 2017, Bob said “the standards and mission of Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) might well have been modeled after the practices and procedures we have had in place all along. It certainly is not difficult to comply with HFAC’s Animal Care Standards that were already and had always been standard operating procedures here. The hens are our operation. We rely on them for our livelihood, and without them we’re nothing. Keeping them safe, happy, and healthy is our top priority.”

Another way The Country Hen farm keeps hens healthy and happy is by operating an on-site mill, which combines locally-sourced certified organic ingredients to create a proprietary blend of certified organic feed. The feed formulas designed by George Bass, with the help of specialists in human and animal nutrition working and testing tirelessly for countless hours, are all designed to provide optimum nutrition for their hens at every stage of their development and growth.

“We do not wonder what our girls are eating or drinking, or if they are getting appropriate nutrition,” says Bob.” “We know what they are eating, how old or fresh the feed might be and from whence each ingredient came. We inspect each ingredient and samples are tested at the time of delivery to be sure it is top quality.”

As a result, Bob says their eggs provide all three Omega-3s (DHA, EPA, ALA) and impressive amounts of Vitamin D, Choline, Lutein and Zeaxanthin.

Employing family and local residents to work on the farm

Because animal husbandry is a top priority for the farm, The Country Hen farm has an intensive hiring process, which involves an extensive background check, drug and alcohol screenings, supervised orientation, hands-on training, regular safety in-services and one-to-one instruction on every aspect of humane hen care.

Some of the farm’s 35 employees are residents, some are family members who work in any capacity as needed.  “Nepotism may not be ideal in other types of industry, but it works splendidly on a farm,” says Bob. “Not only do siblings, children, grandchildren and other extended family members tend to jump right in to help each other out when needed, there is also the added benefit or coincidence that all seem to share the same understanding and love of the farming lifestyle and the same compassion for animals.”

As a major employer in Hubbardston, The Country Hen farm has been recognized by the community for numerous contributions and volunteer work.  In 2017, Bob himself was the recipient of the town’s prestigious Citizen of the Year award on behalf of the farm’s community service in Hubbardston.

The Country Hen farm eggs are sold in more than 20 states up and down the East Coast and as far west as California. They are sold in cartons of six rather than by the dozen.

Visit Certified Humane’s “Where to Buy” page or download the free Certified Humane app to find stores near you where you can purchase Country Hen Farm eggs and support a Certified Humane farm.

For more information, visit The Country Hen farm.

Born Free Eggs

Born Free Eggs in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is dedicated to bringing humanely-raised eggs to the marketplace. Originating as a strong regional brand in the northeast U.S., Born Free Free-Range and Born Free Pasture-Based eggs made their national debut in 2017 and committed this market to the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® label.

Born Free eggs are produced by approved, licensed producers on farms located throughout the United States, and are distributed locally. “The farmers are highly-focused on the humane care of the hens,” says Dave Holdsworth, Vice President of Marketing. “Producers are selected for their ability to meet our quality standards.

Amy Barkley, Quality Assurance Manager, says, “I have visited these small farms and see how the farmers take care of their birds. They know their birds and are committed to providing the highest standard of care for every bird in their flock.”

Born Free Eggs gives every farm a proprietary manual of operations, which includes Humane Farm Animal Care’s standards, to ensure the uniform and humane care of the laying hens.

“As a company, it’s critically important for us to make sure everything for the birds is done humanely,” Barkley emphasized.  “The welfare of the birds is our number one concern. Certified Humane has a long and established reputation and certification standards that are on target with our ethics. Their third-party verification assures consumers our birds are receiving proper care.”

Born Free Eggs follow a dual audit process: Company veterinarians audit their farms, and HFAC’s third-party inspectors, all veterinarians and scientists with specialties in farm animal welfare, also audit farms to ensure humane standards are being met for the hens. “This is a great double check for us to pass onto the consumer,” says Barkley.

Reasons to become Certified Humane®

Born Free Eggs applied for the Certified Humane® program because they wanted a label backed by standards that were well-established and well-known in the U.S. “The free-range and pasture-range market is fragmented with so many different labels and standards, like “happy” and “natural,” that aren’t backed by standards,” says Holdsworth. “We felt it was important to bring Born Free Eggs to the rest of the U.S. with the guaranteed backing and standards of the Certified Humane label.”

“The Certified Humane market is the fastest growing market among consumers interested in free range and pastured range eggs, and retailers selling egg products,” says Holdsworth. “We recognize the power of the Certified Humane logo and the big boost the recognized credibility provides our consumers.”

Born Free Pasture-Raised hens have a housing system that provides a more expansive outdoor area that is at least equivalent in size to the indoor space, and often considerably larger. The hens can forage outside, as seasonally available. Born Free Free-Range hens are free to roam in spacious barns and have access to the outdoors. The outdoor access varies from farm to farm and can include outdoor runs that are covered with a roof to more extensive fenced pasture areas with no roof overhead.

Born Free Eggs also looks after the welfare of their hens by feeding them a fully-vegetarian diet that contains no animal by-products, antibiotics, hormones, or steroids, just a few of the standards which also must be met to qualify for the Certified Humane® program.

“What aligns us with Humane Farm Animal Care is that their Animal Care Standards for the Certified Humane® program are scientifically-based,” says Barkley. “We are high on science at Born Free. We always look to science for the newest innovations, and we know Certified Humane stays up-to-date on those standards.”

Ovobrand SA

 

Launched in 2008, Ovobrand, an egg farm, is the first farm in Argentina offering Certified Humane® labeled eggs.

Located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ovobrand is the largest egg farm in Argentina, operating on 320 hectares (791 acres). Its name, they say, was inspired by OVO, which means “egg,” and BRAND, for the city where it is located, Coronel Brandsen.

Their production and processing facilities are located together, which allows and facilitates the control and traceability of processes and products from the beginning to the end of the supply chain. (Traceability is a critical requirement of Humane Farm Animal Care’s Animal Care Standards.) Ovobrand receives one-day-old chicks and raises them for 18 weeks before moving them into one of their egg laying aviaries.

“We always watch over the welfare of our birds, and take great care of their health and well-being,” says Octavio Gaspar, Manager at Ovobrand. “We recognize that consumers are interested in knowing where their food comes from, choosing the most natural foods that are friendly with the environment and human health. In the case of egg production, consumers want to know that the laying hens are comfortable and allowed to express their natural behaviors.”

To meet consumer demand, Ovobrand was determined to better meet the social, mental and physical needs of their birds by beginning the conversion to a cage-free environment and “learning new production methods for raising and keeping hens cage-free,” Octavio says. “So, we started looking for a certification program with strong credentials and that was well-respected by animal organizations around the world. Several international animal welfare groups that we trusted suggested Humane Farm Animal Care’s program.”

Ovobrand agreed with HFAC’s philosophy and Animal Care Standards and requested, in 2017, to be a part of the Certified Humane Raised and Handling® program. It took a few months for Ovobrand to make the necessary changes to their barns to meet HFAC’s standards.

“We are very grateful to the Certified Humane team for helping us transition to cage-free production methods,” says Octavio. “We have already noticed that the birds are happier and that the staff working in the cage-free barn seem to have a different and more connected relationship with the hens. They interact more with each other and the hens seem more awake.”

Working under Humane Farm Animal Care’s strict protocols, Ovobrand becomes the first Argentine company to produce Certified Humane® eggs. About 150 staff work in their modern processing plant, where their wide-range of premium egg and egg products are produced, or in their barns overseeing the care and well-being of the laying hens.

“We’re not a family business, but after 10 years and with so many dedicated people, it feels like a family business,” says Octavio. “We are now glad to be a part of Humane Farm Animal Care’s family, and the Certified Humane certification program.”

To learn more, visit their website at: www.ovobrand.com.

Huevos Santa Marta

Huevos Santa Marta (Agrícola Santa Marta de Liray S.A.) is located in the District of Colina, Metropolitan region of Santiago de Chile.

Launched in the 1990s, this family business started poultry farming when egg distribution to supermarkets was inadequate. “The suppliers lacked distribution and eggs weren’t always available,” says Jose Luis Moure Barros, General Manager.

So Agrícola Santa Marta de Liray S.A. initiated a start-up egg farm with special emphasis on delivering to large supermarkets. Working with the veterinary community, the farm’s staff learned how to raise and care for laying hens through on-going trainings that are part of the company’s overall policies on animal welfare.

Today, more than 220 employees care for 700,000 laying hens in state-of-the-art facilities. In 2018, the farm introduced higher animal welfare standards by launching the Certified Humane® program with 11,000 of its hens.

“After an international certification analysis and because of Humane Farm Animal Care’s mission towards farm animal welfare all over the world, we believe that Certified Humane® brings together everything we need, in terms of animal welfare and consumer credibility,” says Jose Luis Moure Oportot, Founder and CEO.

“The development of the cage-free egg market and the company’s commitment to animal welfare made it an easy decision to join the Certified Humane® program,” says Jose Luis Moure Barros, General Manager. “It makes us happy to see the birds showing their natural behaviors, like running and dust bathing.”

Barros says Huevos Santa Marta is a company committed not just to the hens, but to the environment. The farm’s on-site composting plant produces high-quality compost from the laying hens manure, which is applied as fertilizer on agricultural land. “Because it’s created by means of an automated aerobic composting system, the process doesn’t produce methane (CH4) and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming,” says Barros.

Huevos Santa Marta’s cage-free eggs are available in Cencosud, within Jumbo stores – one of the largest supermarket chains in Chile.

To learn more, visit their website at: www.asml.cl

Oakdell Egg Farms

Oakdell Egg Farms – Salt Lake City, Utah

Back in the early 19th century, “we always gave our laying hens more space to roam around than other producers of that time,” says Mark Woodward, co-owner of the Oakdell Egg Farms. “To this day, caring about how our hens are raised remains a cornerstone of our farming philosophy.”

Mark Woodward and Cliff Lillywhite are co-owners of Oakdell Egg Farms, headquartered in North Salt Lake City, Utah. Related by marriage, the brothers-in-law say their family farm dates to 1905 when Mark’s grandfather, Cecil Woodward and his bride Bertha, received ten chickens as a wedding gift from their family. The newlyweds began incubating eggs and raising chickens, which soon numbered 500. By 1920, the couple was raising more than 2,000 laying hens in a cage-free environment.

Egg collecting was done by hand until the 1960’s when the farm introduced an automated egg collection system for their now 50,000 hens. Mark says, “The process was really semi-automated. I can remember not being allowed to open Christmas presents on Christmas morning until the hens had been feed and some of the eggs were collected by hand.”

During that same period, the farm moved the birds up off the floor and worked to prevent wild birds and other animals from co-mingling with hens to reduce disease and improve food safety. After a few years though, they went back to cage-free production realizing “it’s what consumers wanted,” says Cliff.

Today, Oakdell Egg Farm’s flock live in cage-free aviaries on three of our four farms in Washington, Idaho, and Utah with 500 to 600 acres per farm. “The birds like to move vertically,” says Mark. “So, the aviaries are built high up, so the birds can perch wherever they want and roost up there when they sleep at night.”

Currently, Oakdell raises several thousand hens per farm under Certified Humane® standards.

“When we learned how in sync our own animal welfare practices were with Certified Humane’s animal welfare standards, we knew we wanted to become Certified Humane,” says Mark. “It’s a label we trust and know consumers also trust.”

Oakdell Egg Farm eggs are available in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and Montana. Most of Oakdell’s eggs, however, are sold under grocery store brand names, so visit Certified Humane’s “Where to Buy” page or download the app to find Certified Humane® eggs near you.

“This is a rewarding business,” says Cliff. “Not always financially, but we know we provide a high-quality food for people, and from a food safety standpoint we do all we can to make sure to provide the end user with a safe, nutritious, healthy product, while at the same time ensuring the welfare of our birds.”

To learn more, visit their website at: Oakdell Egg Farms

duBreton

DuBreton® offers a complete line of the highest quality pork products from pigs raised and processed to the highest standards of quality and animal care. DuBreton’s Rustic Farm Pork and Organic lines have an increased focus on humane farming techniques and respect the Certified Humane® standards. They were the first Certified Humane® producers in North America and again today, the only Certified Humane® pork producer in Canada

To learn more, visit their website here DuBreton.com/en

For information on where to find other Certified Humane® products in your area, visit the “Shop” page of HFAC’s website.

Tulip Tree Creamery

Tulip Tree Creamery founder, Fons Smit

Tulip Tree Creamery – Indianapolis, Indiana

Founded in 2014 by Fons Smits and Laura Davenport, Tulip Tree Creamery in Indianapolis, Indiana, produces artisan cheeses using milk from a local dairy who raises cows in accordance with Certified Humane® standards, which means: no tie stalls, daily access to pasture and exercise areas, fresh wholesome feed without hormones or antibiotics, and a living environment that supports their ability to engage in natural behaviors.

“We want to show our customers that we do not just use any type of milk in our cheeses,” says Fons. “We care about how the animals are treated and how a farm is managed. We believe sourcing Certified Humane® products demonstrates that to our customers.”

Three times a week, the dairy delivers fresh raw milk that Tulip Tree Creamery pasteurizes to make their unique blend of cheeses.  “All of our products are handmade using traditional European recipes with our own special twist to them,” says Fons.

Tulip Tree Creamery’s Certified Humane® cheeses are available throughout the Midwest and at local farmers markets in the Indianapolis area.

Tulip Tree Creamery’s co-founder, Laura, arrived in the dairy world by way of public health and biology. She was an educator in hospitals and for a health-related software company before moving working for dairy farms in 2004. Her focus at Tulip Tree Creamery is in sales, marketing, and education.

Fons grew up in the Netherlands, in the Northern Province of Friesland, a small village surrounded by lakes and canals as well as old villages and sprawling pasture-lands. While known for its dairy farms, Fons didn’t grow up on a farm, but was always so “fascinated with dairy products and everything you can make out of milk,” that he studied food science in the Netherlands for seven years with a specialization in dairy science.

Fons then took that knowledge and traveled all over the world developing small- to medium-sized dairy plants with a focus on cheese making.

Fons Smits makes Nettle Cheese, a mild cheese in texture to Chevre, made with cows milk, and covered with mint, sage and nettle leaves on the outside.

“My focus has always been on small-scale processing and the hands-on approach,” says Fons. “Being able to be involved from start to finish in developing a product or creamery, or making a product from taking the milk from the farm to selling it to a customer really was important to me.”

When Fons arrived in the U.S. in 2003, he helped develop several creameries in California and the Midwest, including a Certified Humane® creamery, which he says, was the inspiration for launching his own Certified Humane® creamery. While he focuses on the cheesemaking and developing the creameries unique cheese flavors, Fons says animal welfare remains an important consideration for his company.

Tulip Tree Creamery was named after the state tree in Indiana and a famous flower in the Netherlands, says Fons, bringing everything full circle.

“As a child, I never thought I would be traveling the world and coming to Indiana to make cheese,” he says. “But I really enjoy bringing these recipes from Europe to the U.S., and seeing how much people here enjoy these artisan cheeses.”

Tulip Tree Creamery’s Certified Humane® cheeses are available throughout the Midwest and at local farmers markets in the Indianapolis area. Fons says they love to interact and engage with the public. “We are always asking people what flavors they would like us to experiment with,” says Fons.

If you live in Indianapolis, Tulip Tree Creamery also offers cheesemaking classes for the public.

Visit TulipTreeCreamery.com for more information.

 

Granja Mantiqueira (Mantiqueira Farm) 

Leandro Pinto, founder and co-owner of Mantiqueira Farms, in the Mantiqueira Mountains in southeastern Brazil.

Granja Mantiqueira (Mantiqueira Farm), located primarily in the Mantiqueira Mountains in southeastern Brazil, started as a small family farm in 1987. Over the next three decades, it has become the largest egg producer in South America – and the 12th largest egg producer in the world.

Leandro Pinto, founder and co-owner of Mantiqueira Farms, believes it was his destiny to become a poultry farmer. As a child, Leandro’s family raised chickens in the backyard, and his father sold eggs and made fertilizer from the chicken waste to sell to nearby families and businesses.

But Leandro had an entrepreneurial spirit and looked for other ways to make a living. As a young teen, he worked as a shoe shine boy and messenger, and at the local car wash. At 17, he started a small agricultural machine shop, but closed the business two years later because of his lack of experience and the economic unrest of the mid 80s in Brazil. That’s when he saw an opportunity to operate an egg laying business.

A friend in a nearby town had a heart attack and offered Leandro the option of taking over his egg farm. Leandro didn’t have money to buy a farm, but he sold his car and truck and purchased the friend’s 30,000 chickens and signed a contract to rent his barns. Leandro was in business with a few nearby restaurants and bakeries already established as clients.

Like most budding entrepreneurs, Leandro did everything on the farm, from taking egg orders, feeding and taking care of the laying hens, and loading the eggs onto the delivery trucks. His wife, Rogéria, a physiotherapist, helped in her spare time, but Leandro worked day and night to build his business.

“I didn’t get much rest those first two years,” says Leandro. “In fact, it took three days to fill up one little egg truck.”

In 1989, political instability and an economic crisis in Brazil put many farmers out of business. Food production dropped off, and food shortages resulted. Leandro was one of the few farms to survive and thrive, thanks to his already lean operations. Mantiqueira Farm took over the market share of egg sales and used the increased revenue to expand his operations.

By 1990, Mantiqueira Farms had 100,000 laying hens on the farm still run on a non-automated system. But Leandro was interested in the latest and most modern techniques and facilities for his barns, so in 1996, after visiting equipment manufacturers in Europe, Leandro introduced a new automated production system that would speed up egg production. “From the moment, the chicken lays the egg through to the final packaging, no one on the farm had to touch the egg,” says Leandro.

In the mid 1990´s, when Carlos Cunha, the owner of a supermarket chain in Brazil started buying Mantiquieras’ eggs, Leandro felt he was in a good place with his business. But Cunha sold the supermarkets a few years later, and Leandro had no guarantee that sales would continue to grow for his largest client. Undaunted, Leandro convinced Carlos to invest in his company, and three years later, his farm went from laying 400,000 eggs a day to 2.4 million eggs a day. Leandro and Carlos have been partners ever since.

The next step for the partners was to introduce a cage-free system. “We also look for ways to introduce innovations and follow world trends in the egg industry,” says Leandro. “We saw the importance of switching to a cage-free production system since that is what consumers want.”

While researching cage-free operations, Leandro came across Humane Farm Animal Care and the Certified Humane® program. “We felt Humane Farm Animal Care could guide us in setting up a cage-free system,” he says. “We also see the value of their program in validating our program. By becoming Certified Humane®, we could offer even more guarantees and assurances to the consumers about how our chickens are raised.”

The portion of Mantiqueira Farms that is currently Certified Humane® will produce eggs for the Happy Eggs brand and Taeq, the brand produced for Pão de Açúcar supermarkets in Brazil. “Under this system, the birds are calm and docile with freedom to move around and express their natural behaviors, such as climbing on perches,” says Leandro. “The achievement of the animal welfare certification makes us very happy because it ensures we are on the right path in our cage-free production system.”

La Calera SAC Chincha, Ica, Peru

La Calera SAC is a family-owned business that produces eggs in Chincha, Ica, Peru. Founded by (Tayo) Estuardo Masias Marrou more than 40 years ago, La Calera is a family operated farm still run by Tayo, his wife, sons, and grandchildren, who all live on the farm, too.

As the largest egg producer in Peru with more than five million laying hens on their 350-hectare farm, they produce eggs for supermarkets, small stores, traditional markets, restaurants, and hotels nationwide. In fact, 98% of the eggs in supermarkets and 23% of Peru’s overall market share of eggs are from La Calera farms, making them an exciting addition to the Certified Humane® program. Currently, Heuvos de Gallina de Corral Humanitaro brand of eggs, available at Wong and Metro supermarkets, and their own La Calera Heuvos de Gallina de Corral Humanitaro brand, are Certified Humane®.

Tayo is committed, however to growing the Certified Humane® program and implementing Humane Farm Animal Care’s animal care standards on the rest of their farms throughout the country. Because most large farms are actually a collection of small farms located in different regions, HFAC will certify an individual farm in a farm business only if it is geographically separate from the other farms in the program. HFAC uses third-party inspectors to conduct traceability audits to ensure eggs that are Certified Humane only come from Certified Humane farms.

Tayo’s family has farmed in Peru for more than 200 years and acquired more than 2,000 hectares of farm land during that time. After the Agrarian Reform (the redistribution of land) in 1969, however, the family farm was reduced to just 80 hectares. Tayo needed to make a living on the much smaller farm, so with the little money he had left, he purchased 3,000 laying hens and launched a small egg production business with four employees. Today, La Calera provides jobs to more than 2,500 families.

“I used to be the one picking up the eggs and running everything on the farm,” says Tayo. “It´s amazing how things have evolved. I am very passionate about this work,” says Tayo.

Tayo quickly learned how to raise hens in the Chincha environment, a somewhat desert-like climate with little rain and moderate temperatures all year-round.

“We raise the hens ourselves and only select the genetically best hens for egg laying production,” says Tayo.

“We give them space to run around and have as much freedom as they can.”

When Tayo learned about the Certified Humane® program in 2012, he decided the program fit his farm’s focus of animal care and would meet the demands of consumers who wanted verification on how farm animals are raised.

“We make a great commitment to take care of our animals and their environment,” says Tayo. “Part of that philosophy is giving the best life we can to the hens. We already follow all the practices set out by the Certified Humane® program, so it made sense to add that label to our egg products, so consumers would know that too.”

It could take a few years, but La Calera is committed to adding more farms to the Certified Humane program. All farms producing Certified Humane products are inspected at least once a year.

La Calera’s commitment to animals and the environment also reverberates into the community. In addition to providing 2,500 jobs for residents, the farm also helps single moms working on the farm by providing on-site day care. They also have built 900 houses for their employees, who where homeless after the 2007 earthquake, and sponsored the city’s first bilingual school.

“We care very much about the welfare of both people and animals on our farm,” says Tayo.

BRF Brasil

BRF– one of the largest food companies in the world – joined the Certified Humane® program in 2016 for some of their integrated chicken farms in Goiás (Midwest Brazil) and some turkey farms in Santa Catarina (Southern Brazil) to fully demonstrate their commitment to animal welfare to their consumers. In 2017, the chicken project was renewed with the integrated farms, and a new chicken project was certified in Mato Grosso state (Midwest Brazil). BRF produces chicken and pork products sold under the Sadia, Perdigão and other recognized brands. Sadia is the leading chicken and processed food brand offered to the Brazilian market.

“BRF is improving the lives of millions of birds under the Certified Humane® Brasil program,” said Luiz Mazzon, Director of Certified Humane® in South America. “We expect this program to continue to grow as more and more consumers demand humanely-raised food.”

Headquartered in Middleburg, Virginia, Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), which launched in 2003, introduced the Certified Humane® program in South America in 2011. The Brazilian office is responsible for overseeing the expansion of the Certified Humane® program and the certification of farms and food animal producers under the Certified Humane® Raised and Handled label in South America.

BRF ranks as one of the ten most innovative companies in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, and one of the 100 most sustainable on the planet, according to the Global Compact 100 Stock Index, which recognizes companies committed to the incorporation of UN Global Compact principles within their business models.

Animal welfare is an essential part of BRF’s culture and strategy and carries out actions towards the humane treatment of animals in all stages of the production process. Since 2014, when BRF signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NGO World Animal Protection (WAP), the company has been identifying opportunities for improvement and key trends and practices that improve animal welfare.

“Animal welfare for BRF is not a temporary program, but a real cause they work on at multiple levels within the organization,” says Mazzon. BRF’s commitment to animal welfare is an integral component of the company’s ethical principles, which allows for improvements in the working environment and the human-animal relationship. “We have a team of ambassadors called “Animal Welfare Officials,” who are trained to ensure compliance with these guidelines, commitments, and targets,” says Hugo Urso, Agriculture Director at BRF. “The program includes the assessment of improvement gaps and opportunities, with short-, medium- and long-term plans formulated to ensure the attainment of our goal of maximizing animal welfare.”

According to Urso, BRF maintains a strict policy of zero-tolerance towards animal mistreatment, whether by abuse or negligence. It also relies on standards to provide guidance on best practices that range from the poultry farm to humane slaughter, emergency plans, and transportation. With these company-wide commitments in place, BRF Sadia wanted to take the next step and become part of Certified Humane’s international certification program, which not only outlines humane standards of care the company must follow, but provides third-party independent inspections and audits to ensure compliance of these standards are being met for consumers. “In joining the Certified Humane® program, BRF wants to positively transform its entire global chain by acting even more ethically and responsibly,” says Josiane Busatta, Quality Assurance Specialist at BRF. “Its core activity is producing animal proteins, so animal welfare is naturally one of the great causes we advocate not only within our company, but also outside the BRF universe. Certified Humane® is the most internationally-recognized certification program focused on animal welfare. To be certified by this organization is to have a serious seal for our proposal and program.”

BRF participates in animal welfare discussions at industry organizations, such as the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), and its research arm, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). They also share their technical knowledge, make financial contributions, and support scientific congresses on the topic of animal welfare at top universities, such as the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil.

Under the Certified Humane® program, BRF must follow HFAC’s precise Animal Care Standards for the humane treatment of farm animals raised for food production and consent to third party inspections and audits to ensure compliance with the Certified Humane® program. Through the program, farm animals must receive a nutritious diet without preventive use of antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space sufficient to support natural behaviors, like spreading their wings, perching on posts, and living cage-free lives. Adele Douglass, Founder and CEO of HFAC, says BRF’s commitment to humane farm animal care will resonate with other food producers and farms around the world. “Having one of the largest food companies in the world commit to raising their animals Certified Humane® shows that any producer of any size can commit to raising farm animals humanely,” she says. “BRF will set a high bar that other food producers and farmers will want to follow.”