PICK OF THE CROP
ORGANIGROW—ON FREE RANGE
Misleading “free range” claims have led to a deep feeling of mistrust by consumers. Government standards have now set an upper limit of 10,000 birds per hectare, but this is meaningless as there’s no definition of what that means: a producer can have half a million birds in a dozen sheds, all cheek by jowl in the corner of a 50ha property. The best way to avoid bad practices is to look for certification by Humane Choice. Organic certification is also useful but beware the larger producers: they can also be misleading on their stocking densities and ranging. You can check Google Earth for the farm producing the eggs you buy, including mine.
