Backyarders now blamed for egg industry woes

The Australian Egg Corporation says that backyard flocks now account for about 12% of egg production in Australia. The reality is people have always had chooks - but the numbers are now growing because the community is fed up with the dishonesty of producers who mislabel their eggs.
Customers aren't stupid, they know that the Egg Corp allows intensively-farmed eggs go be labelled as 'free range' and that this situation will be even worse if the new standard is pushed through which endorses a proposed stocking density of up to 20,000 hens per hectare.
It was a great talking point at Farmers' Markets over the weekend - particularly at Churchill Island and Inverloch.