Westerner earns more than 2,200 billion/year from raising free-range chickens

In 2007, Matt O'Hayer and his wife Catherine Stewart decided to embark on a business adventure, raising egg-laying chickens on a small plot of land in Austin, Texas, USA.

In order to “rescue” the elderly from industrial egg farms, they decided to raise chickens in the most humane way possible. They took the chickens out of cages and let them roam thousands of square meters of beautiful pastures. The chickens were raised organically, fed only grass and insects, and were antibiotic-free.

He started with 20 chickens, then 1,000, then 4,000. Once he had enough customers to meet that number of eggs, he started looking for another farm. One farm after another, and now his family has 60 farms across the United States.

Speaking about the inspiration behind Vital Farm, Matt O'Hayer, the owner of the chicken farm, said that he had run a few different businesses over the years. He had been thinking about how to produce delicious, safe and sustainable eggs. And he had a plan from those thoughts. Now, his business is growing very quickly.

He believes his business is ethical and fair. In America, consumers are concerned about where their food comes from. People are starting to pay attention and ask questions. Do they really want to eat eggs from chickens that have been tortured all their lives in a cage? Do they really want to eat a chicken that has been fed garbage?

An egg is made of what the chicken eats. Free-range eggs are more nutritious and taste better. So the food movement in America has been very helpful in the development of Vital Farms.

In fact, consumers don't realize that 90% of eggs in the US come from chickens that are kept in cramped cages, unable to stand up or spread their wings for their entire lives.

According to Mother Earth News magazine, compared to regular eggs, pasture-raised eggs have less cholesterol and saturated fat, but twice as much omega-3 fatty acids, three times more vitamin E, and seven times more beta carotene.

His family's farm is certified organic and does not allow any chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Additionally, the farm does not use any antibiotics in the chicken feed.

He likened that eggs were not just eggs that customers ate, but were like streams flowing from creeks to rivers and ending in the vast ocean.

Now, his farms have a lot of investors. They invest in the company not just for the profit, but because he is doing something to change the way people think about food in a really positive way.