Egg-Tech Prize Opportunity to Revolutionize Egg Production, Improve Animal Welfare and Save Billions
- Advanced Animal Systems

This Prize is an opportunity to revolutionize the egg industry. Eliminating male chick culling – a practice opposed by industry and animal advocacy organizations alike –would greatly improve animal welfare and add billions of eggs to the food supply. This Prize is a win-win for egg producers and consumers.Sally Rockey, Ph.D.
Executive Director
The Egg-Tech Prize brings together industry and advocates to jointly work toward ending male chick culling. FFAR is thrilled to have the support of both Open Philanthropy Project, a co-funder of the Prize and United Egg Producers (UEP), a cooperative representing U.S. egg farmers.
“UEP farmer-members are committed to high standards for animal welfare and continuous improvement in all aspects of egg production and addressing male chick culling is a leading priority,” said Chad Gregory, UEP president and CEO. “The issue of identifying sex in-ovo is scientifically complex, with millions of dollars already spent by stakeholders to develop a solution. UEP appreciates FFAR’s support of this critical research and we are hopeful it will bring much-needed progress toward meaningful outcomes.”
Current approaches to solving this challenge range from gene-editing to measuring an egg’s hormone levels to determine its sex. However, these proposed solutions have drawbacks that prevent global adoption. An ideal solution would determine a chick’s sex early in development, before hatcheries invest in incubation and without genetically modifying the poultry genome. Recent advancements in sensor technologies, engineering and biological sciences suggest that it is possible to develop a technology that both successfully determines an egg’s sex before it hatches and can be integrated into existing production systems.
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Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization established by bipartisan Congressional support in the 2014 Farm Bill, builds unique partnerships to support innovative and actionable science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges. FFAR leverages public and private resources to increase the scientific and technological research, innovation and partnerships critical to enhancing sustainable production of nutritious food for a growing global population. The FFAR Board of Directors is chaired by Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum, Ph.D. and includes ex officio representation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation.
Connect: @FoundationFAR | @RockTalking
CONTACT: Sarah Goldberg, FFAR, 202.624.0704, sgoldberg@foundationfar.org
Open Philanthropy Project
The Open Philanthropy Project identifies outstanding giving opportunities, makes grants, follows the results and publishes its findings. Its mission is to give as effectively as it can and share its findings openly so that anyone can build on its work.
Connect: @open_phil