Setting the Benchmark for White

Published on : 21 Aug 2026

The free-range egg industry is nearing publication of a white bird cost of production model to sit alongside the independent ADAS brown bird costings that have underpinned the sector in recent years.

Those costings are widely recognised as the industry's gold standard, earned through independence, integrity and transparency, though real adoption into contracts only gathered pace since Covid with the egg shortages that followed. Applying the same rigour to white birds is critical if the new figures are to earn the same trust.

Data collection on white birds has been under way for close to two years, a lead time driven by the longer length of lay in white flocks. That timeline is now nearing its end. A white bird cost of production is needed to establish a baseline; without one, reduction is likely to follow reduction until white eggs become a value egg beset by cost of production problems it has no defence against.

The brown bird costings were not universally welcomed when first published either, but they pulled the industry out of a crisis and have since earned the trust of retailers - our key customers.

ADAS is now bringing together white bird producers, packers, breed companies and the feed sector to take the work forward; the exact numbers and format are still being finalised. The choice we have is who sets the benchmark, and how accurate it is. Anyone wanting to take part, including packers and others across the supply chain, is asked to email Jason Gittins at ADAS (Jason.Gittins@adas.co.uk).