Indiana egg farmer participating in White House event
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(photo courtesy of the American Egg Board)
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The First Lady’s Commemorative Egg has been presented at the White House Egg Roll for nearly 50 years. (photo courtesy of the American Egg Board)
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Sam Krouse is co-CEO of MPS Egg Farms in North Manchester.
First Lady Jill Biden will host the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, and an Indiana egg farmer will be part of the festivities. Sam Krouse, co-CEO of North Manchester-based MPS Egg Farms will be an on-site volunteer at the event, which dates back the 1870s, as one of the representatives of the American Egg Board to present Biden with the 2023 First Lady’s Commemorative Egg.
“It’s a huge honor,” Krouse said. “To be there as a representative for eggs, for the state of Indiana, and for my family, it’s really going to be a fun event.”
About 30,000 people are expected to be on the White House lawn for the event. Krouse, who is attending the event for the first time, discussed his participation in an interview with Inside INdiana Business.
“It’s a lot of celebration,” Krouse said. “We’ll present the First Lady with her egg, which celebrates education…and we’ll be helping her celebrate that with egg education on the commemorative egg itself and with activities all over the White House lawn. So, it’s going to be really fun from that perspective.”
The First Lady’s Commemorative Egg is a tradition that dates back nearly 50 years. It is an actual chicken egg that is handcrafted each year by a specialized egg artist.
The event will also celebrate egg farmers around the country giving back, said Krouse. The American Egg Board says egg farmers have donated more than 5.5 million eggs to food banks and pantries nationwide in the weeks leading up to Easter and Passover.
Krouse said this time of year is the Super Bowl for egg producers, along with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“People eat a lot of eggs around this time. They use a lot for dyeing and coloring and all those kinds of things, and they’re so versatile,” he said. “American Egg Board has all kinds of ways that people can use eggs around this holiday, whether it’s new recipes, or ways to dye them and have fun with them. It’s a big time for our business to be ready for that, to be supported and know that our customers and our shoppers and everybody’s going to have the eggs they need.”
Inside INdiana Business spoke with Krouse in early February about the rising cost of eggs in America, which has largely been attributed to the affects of avian influenza, along with higher feed and fertilizer costs due to inflation.
The Center for Food Demand Analysis & Sustainability at Purdue University shows egg prices on a downward trend, with the average price for a dozen eggs being $4.21 in February, down from a January high of $4.82.
Krouse says egg farmers are making good progress in doing what they can to help bring prices back down.
“We have been doing everything we can to get birds in production so people have eggs for Easter, and all the signs that we’re seeing are that store shelves are full, and egg prices are kind of where they need to be at this time of year,” he said. “So, I’m proud of MPS for getting through a lot of avian influenza challenges, and I’m proud of our industry for getting through it and really helping to deliver a nice Easter for everybody.”
You can learn more about plans for this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll by clicking here.