Eggheads

🎥 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jexU5-Qo_E0?is=BqH4iXcb-4DddkqV

Travis Bybee spent 25 years in banking, all while quietly building toward the life he actually wanted. He bought his first piece of land right out of college and spent the next two decades accumulating 1,400 acres, farming until dark after every shift, with one goal in mind: becoming a full-time farmer. The missing piece turned out to be eggs.

In this episode, Greg sits down with Travis to talk about how a chance meeting as a banker—not a farmer—sparked the idea for a layer operation unlike anything his neighbors had seen, and how he used everything he learned financing other people’s farms to build his own.

Here’s what we discuss with Travis:

• How Travis used 25 years of ag lending to design a better barn than the farmers he was financing
• Why eggs were the final puzzle piece that made full-time farming financially viable
• The year of research, 40 to 50 barn visits, and hundreds of YouTube videos before breaking ground
• Why he GC’d the entire construction himself — and how stressful that actually was
• What drew farmers from eight different states to pull into his driveway during construction
• The open house that drew over 1,000 people before a single bird arrived
• What a day in the life looks like running two 50,000-bird barns alongside a cattle and hay operation
• Faith, family, and farm — and what it means to build a life around all three

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In rural America, grain bins are so ubiquitous that you might not even notice them on the landscape. But if you were to stop on your drive home and take a closer look at one, there's a good chance you'd see the name 'Sukup' written on the side. 

Steve Sukup is the Chairman of Sukup Manufacturing. Back in 1963, the company started off making grain stirrers, but they've since expanded their offerings to become one of the world's largest manufacturers of grain storage, drying, and handling equipment. 

Steve joins us to explain why grain bins are such an integral part of American animal agriculture — including the egg industry, and how a commitment to innovation, along with a willingness to take risks, has led to incredible success. 

Burnbrae Farms first got into egg farming in the 1940's, when Joe Hudson, who was just 13 years old at the time, brought home 50 chickens to establish a backyard flock. Today, Joe's daughter, Margaret Hudson, serves as President and CEO of Burnbrae, which has long-since outgrown the backyard, and become the largest egg producer in Canada.

Margaret joins us to discuss how her and her family kept building on what Joe started, including turning a low value egg byproduct into a national brand, funding research behind one of Canada's early omega-3 products and even helping major retailers rethink how they manage the egg category.

It doesn't matter how hard-working you are as a farmer, if you don't have the right genetics in your flock, it's going to be difficult to have success in the egg game. But as the industry evolves, and the needs of consumers change, deciding which birds are the right fit for your farm has become much more complex. 

Neal Martin is the General Manager of US distribution at Hendrix Genetics. He joins us today for a bit of a history lesson of how the poultry genetics business has evolved — and consolidated — over the years, the incredibly complicated logistics of getting hens to layers when they need them, and all of the different attributes you can get chickens to express through selective breeding. 

Over the last few decades automation has completely changed the way eggs are processed. And with robots now assuming many of the jobs handled previously by humans, producers can now process eggs faster, and with a higher degree of accuracy than ever before. 

Bill Bretschneider is a product manager for MOBA, a company based in Barneveld in the Netherlands, and one of the world's biggest suppliers of egg grading, breaking, and sorting equipment. Today, Bill walks us through the innovation milestones of the past few decades, including the rollout of AI crack detection, and explains what more needs to happen before we see truly autonomous facilities. 

When Raechel Van Buskirk served up some creatively-flavored deviled eggs at her dive bar in Omaha, Nebraska, she had no idea that it would change her life. And what started as a way to drum up some business on Sunday mornings, would eventually lead to a chain of restaurants, national distribution and even an appearance on Shark Tank. 

Today, Raechel walks us through the whirlwind rise of her company, Deviled Egg Co., including the struggle of keeping a business going through Covid, the nerve-wracking preparation for her Shark Tank appearance, and how she's navigated the volatility in egg prices. 

In an industry where it would be easy to treat an egg as just an egg, one brand has built its entire identity on finding the next big thing. 

Jasen Urena is the Executive Vice President of NestFresh, a company that's been an early adopter of cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, non-GMO, and regenerative organic egg production, and recently became the first company in the US to put a humanely hatched egg on grocery store shelves. 

Today, Jasen walks us through their history of innovation, how NestFresh has built long-term partnerships with over 300 independent family farms, and what it actually takes to be a first mover in the egg industry. 

Egg prices are sitting near all-time lows, and that's not because of weak demand, but because supply has outpaced it. Emily Metz, President and CEO of the American Egg Board, joins Greg to talk about how her organization is working to close that gap.

Emily walks us through the AEB's strategy for getting people to consume more eggs, from changing their reputation as only a breakfast food, to getting more eggs into school lunches, and opening up export markets abroad.

In-ovo sexing has the potential to end the practice of male chick culling — and the technology seems to have finally caught up to the ambition. 

Greg hosted a panel on the topic at the Peak Conference, featuring Nancy Roulston, Senior Director of Corporate Policy and Animal Science at the ASPCA; Juliana Machado, Geneticist and Data Scientist at Hendrix Genetics; Casey Downey from Innovate Animal Ag; and Dr. Larry Sadler, Senior Vice President of the United Egg Producers.

The panel digs into the current state of the technology, the real costs of adoption, and the coordination challenge of getting hatcheries, producers, retailers, and consumers all moving in the same direction.

In early 2025 HPAI outbreaks had egg prices sitting at record highs; just one year later they're hitting inflation-adjusted historic lows. And while that may be great for consumers looking for a cheap source of protein, it has a lot of US producers feeling the squeeze. 

Joining us to discuss the issue is Brian Moscogiuri. Formerly of Urner Barry, and Eggs Unlimited, Brian recently launched a new venture called KHM Trading, a commercial wholesale broker of shell eggs and egg products. 

Brian understands the dynamics of the US egg market better than anyone, and today he discusses the factors contributing to the dip in prices, what the industry's doing to try and drum up new demand, and when producers might start to see some relief.