Ranch to Lay Off 170, End Whole-Egg Sales

Egg City, the giant egg ranch based north of Moorpark, is laying off almost half its employees and drastically reducing its stock of chickens because the company is getting out of the whole-egg production business.

The company will mail letters to 170 of its 400 employees today advising them that they will be out of work in 60 days, said Gerald Rosen, president and chief executive officer.

About 150 of the employees are at the Moorpark facility, while the other 20 are at the company’s two ranches in San Luis Obispo County.

Some of the Moorpark employees may eventually be rehired by another egg producer who will lease part of the Egg City facility on Shekell Road.

But at least 80 of the layoffs will be permanent and “it could be more than that,” Rosen said.

The employees being laid off earn $4.25 to $12 an hour, Rosen said.

The layoffs resulted from Egg City’s decision to stop producing the whole eggs sold in grocery stores and to focus entirely on manufacturing egg products used in such foods as cake mixes, salad dressings and ice cream.

“We’re in the process of refocusing our business,” Rosen said.

Producing egg products is more profitable, he said, because Americans are eating fewer eggs.

Annual egg consumption in the United States dropped from 309 per person in 1970 to 234 per person in 1989, according to U. S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

The company, which has operated at the Shekell Road location since 1961, is owned by a Japanese trading firm, Okura & Co. (America). Okura invested in Egg City in the late 1980s and took control of the company in 1991 after a bitter court battle with Moorpark resident Ric Carrott, who was then majority owner.

Egg City’s decision to get out of whole-egg production became final Monday when company officials agreed to lease to a competitor the part of their facility where they now clean, weigh and package raw eggs, Rosen said.

The competitor is San Diego-based California Ranch Fresh, whose main owners are Embley Ranch of San Diego and Eggs West, an Ontario-based company with a ranch in Moorpark.

Officials at California Ranch Fresh and Eggs West could not be reached for comment.

But Rosen said California Ranch Fresh will truck in eggs laid at the Moorpark Eggs West plant for processing and packaging.

“They will be renting space and equipment,” Rosen said.

Egg City will close its two small ranches in San Luis Obispo County, and keep only about half its flock of 2.5 million chickens at the Moorpark ranch, Rosen said.

Some of the chickens are being sold to other egg producers, Rosen said, and some to slaughterhouses.

In the past, Egg City has contended with complaints from residents of Fillmore and Moorpark about the stench from the company’s millions of chickens.

Rosen said he’s not convinced that the odor comes solely from his company, so the reduction in chickens may not alleviate the problem.

Furthermore, he said, “most of the problems are weather-related.” The odor is worst when there is fog in the morning followed by winds in the afternoon, he said.