Pandemic causes mass surplus at Cornish egg farm
Watch Kathy Wardle's report
A Cornish egg producer says the pandemic has led to a mass surplus of eggs.
St Ewe Free Range Eggs says it has lost half of its income due to the hospitality sector being shut down.
The company in Tregony produces 180,000 eggs a year. But it has seen egg sales plummet as its core markets has dried up.
The company says its hens keep laying regardless of demand. It’s had to send pallets of free range eggs to the incinerator because they’ve been going out of date before they could reach the shelves.
At the moment all the St Ewe livestock and chickens at their partner farms are in lockdown due to an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone which is in force for all bird-keepers across the UK.
The company has launched ‘Shell Out to Help Out’ to try to stop so many eggs going to waste.
The scheme is sending cartons of surplus eggs to local foodbanks.
Managing director of St Ewe Free Range Eggs Martin Glinski said: "Hopefully it solves quite a few challenges.
"At the moment, we've got a surplus of eggs. The campaign is a really simple one, we sell eggs to the public at a cost that covers our food costs our collection costs of the eggs, and every tray that we sell we're donating a carton of eggs to a local food charity."
St Ewe has setup a crowdfunding campaign so it can deliver more eggs directly to foodbanks throughout the region.
The eggs are being sold at pop-up events across Cornwall.
So far, they've donated 30,000 eggs to food charities. The company says it plans to continue the project long after the pandemic has ended.
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