The Princess Royal has visited free-range egg producer, St. Ewe Free Range Eggs, to open its new grading and packing centre. The packing centre has allowed the company to expand its processing facilities and upgrade its production infrastructure, as well as providing significant future growth potential.
Bex Tonks, chief executive of St Ewe Free Range Eggs commented: “We are honoured to have had HRH The Princess Royal officially open our packing centre, and hope that it will demonstrate how our British family business supports other family farms around the UK. If it wasn’t for their dedication to farming and the hard work of our whole team, St Ewe Free Range Eggs wouldn’t be where they are today.
“I speak on behalf of the whole St. Ewe family when I say that it marked a huge moment for us, as we reflect, with huge pride, on our combined achievements over the past 41 years.”
Thanks to the support of DEFRA grant funding, the purpose-built packing centre spans 50,000 sq. ft, and along with specialist machinery, has enabled the business to continue to grow from packing one million eggs per week to between two and three million eggs per week at present; with scope for future growth. With the processing capacity of the business having increased more than five-fold, this in turn has generated more employment opportunities within the local community.
The Tonks Family diversified into poultry in 1982 and founded St Ewe Free Range Eggs in 2007 when they began packing their own free-range eggs for the supermarkets under their own brand.