New data has revealed community trust in the nation’s egg industry remains strong, with a significant number of Australians agreeing the sector has a lower impact on the environment compared to other industries.

The latest round of Australian Egg’s Sustainability Framework Community Survey shows 85% of Australians support the nation’s egg industry, while 64% of respondents have expressed trust in the industry to act responsibly, which has increased almost 10% since 2018.

Australian Eggs Managing Director Rowan McMonnies, who recently presented at the International Egg Commission’s Global Leadership Conference in the Netherlands, said the research presented “a call to action for the industry to demonstrate it is using environmental resources responsibly”.

“The significance of environmental management as a driver of trust has increased significantly this year reflecting increasing community interest in this area and the industry needs to demonstrate improvement in order to align with community expectations.”

The survey, conducted by research company Voconiq, engaged more than 5000 Australians, and is the fifth time the survey has been undertaken.

It forms a central part of Australian Eggs’ Sustainability Framework, which aims to explore community attitudes and perceptions of the egg industry.

The results will help define where industry research and development focusses need to be.

Industry-wide carbon reduction is one of these focusses, with 50% of the industry’s carbon footprint linked to feed consumption.

“Increasing the efficiency of hen diets and identifying substitutes for higher carbon feed ingredients like soybean meal are real opportunities for the industry and are being investigated,” Mr McMonnies said.

Australian Eggs is also focused on on-farm carbon reduction and has invested significantly in research to conduct carbon assessments of the supply chain.

“This body of research has found that overall, eggs remain as one of the lowest carbon animal protein which is supported by industries adoption of renewables,” Mr McMonnies said.