Rose Acre Farms is the second largest egg producer in the United States and employs more than 2,000 people. The company is based in Seymour, Indiana, and has facilities in seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina, plus joint ventures in Colorado and Hawaii. Rose Acre Farms is one of several producers that annually donate approximately 30,000 hard boiled eggs to the U.S. government for use at the White House Easter Egg Roll. In 2013 the company began a 30-year effort to refit its facilities to cage-free standards. In 2018, Rose Acre Farms donated $200,000 for a new animal science complex on the nearby campus of

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

. In April 2018, Rose Acre Farms announced that, due to concerns over ''

Salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...

'', they would be voluntarily recalling more than 200 million eggs which originated at its facility in Hyde County, North Carolina. All recalled eggs were conventional eggs from hens raised in battery cage facilities. The

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) investigation found, among other things, numerous rodents in the manure pits below the battery cages. It was the largest egg recall in the country since 2010. Rose Acre Farms partially owns Opal Foods which received $24 million in payments from the USDA to cover the cost of flocks exterminated due to avian influenza since 2022, a federal response known as “indemnity payments.” This facility used ventilation shutdown plus to kill their flocks. In July 2024 their Roggen, CO facility had another outbreak of avian influenza and killed 1.8 million birds in response. Former board chairman John Rust stepped down in favor of his brother and the company's CEO, Marcus, in September 2023, to focus on a campaign running for the US Senate. Three months later, the company was found liable in a lawsuit alleging that it colluded, along with

Cal-Maine Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. is an American fresh egg producer based in Ridgeland, Mississippi. As of 2024, it was the largest egg producer in the United States. Its eggs are sold under several different brand names, including Egg-Land's Best, Land O' ...

United Egg Producers United Egg Producers (UEP) is a Capper–Volstead agricultural cooperative in the United States which represents the interests of American egg producers. History Egg producers’ concern over the volatility of prices due to overproduction during t ...

, and United States Egg Marketers, to reduce the supply of eggs and increase prices between 2004 and 2008. The plaintiffs in the case, a group of large food manufacturers led by

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

, originally filed the long-running lawsuit in 2011, but it did not reach trial until October 2023. In October 2024, the company announced that Tony Wesner, former Chief Operating Officer, was elected as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Wesner succeeded Marcus Rust as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Rust has taken an advisory role with the family-owned company, and will serve as the new Chief Visionary Officer. Terry Anderson, former Vice President of Operations, is now the Chief Operating Officer. {{Cite web , date=2024-10-11 , title=Tony Wesner named Rose Acre Farms CEO , url=https://www.wattagnet.com/egg/egg-production/article/15705710/tony-wesner-named-rose-acre-farms-ceo , access-date=2024-10-23 , website=WATTPoultry.com , language=en-us

References

Agriculture companies of the United States Companies based in Indiana Farms in Indiana Farms in the United States 2018 in the United States Egg farming