The Manitoba Egg Farmers, along with the University of Manitoba, is celebrating the grand opening of the 22,000 square foot Manitoba Egg Farmers Learning and Research Centre at the university’s Glenlea Research Station.
The facility is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equipment, smart internet cloud-based technologies and designed to foster collaborations to advance Manitoba’s egg industry for the next 20 years and beyond.
Putting Manitoba’s agriculture sector further on the map, this new, state-of-the-art facility will advance and enhance research on modern egg production techniques and technologies and showcase what modern egg farmers do every day for the benefit of the public.
The facility features two bio-secure barns; one free-run aviary and one with enriched housing. Free-run aviary housing allows the hens access to the entire barn area while enriched housing combines the food safety benefits of conventional housing with the welfare benefits of open housing.
There are windows into each barn for the public to view, and research space in the private section of the building for students and researchers from the University of Manitoba to conduct research and learn about eggs and laying hens.
The one-stop research hub will facilitate scale-up validation of lab findings in a commercial setting featuring paired free-run aviary and enriched layer housing system. It is the only research facility with the capacity for in-depth multi-replicate studies as well as comparison studies between the two housing systems.
Fostering public trust in egg farming is critical and will come through targeted public engagement programming and creation of knowledge. Validated through the scientific process, this information can be used to improve public confidence and develop informed policy in Manitoba. The public viewing galleries of the two housing areas will further instill confidence in the manner in which hens are raised and cared for on Manitoba farms.
Public education is key to the egg industry. The facility opens the barn doors allowing consumers to see how eggs are produced and how hens are housed. Currently, 40 per cent of hens in Manitoba are housed in enriched housing and 11 per cent are housed in free-run aviary housing.
Biosecurity measures keep hens healthy and food safe on egg farms which means that the public has – until now – been unable to tour working egg farms. With the new facility’s completion, the public is now able to visit a real egg farm at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre.
To learn more about Manitoba Egg Farmers, visit eggs.mb.ca
