The Kansas Department of Agriculture will host an egg grading workshop at Colby Community College to train poultry producers in egg grading and to share other important poultry care and food safety information. The workshop is available to all Kansas egg producers at no charge.

The egg grading workshop will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the multipurpose meeting room of the Student Union at Colby Community College in Colby. Although the workshop is free, participants are encouraged to RSVP to Chris Sramek with High Plains Food Co-Op by sending their name, phone number and email address to info@highplainsfood.org or by calling him at 785-626-6082.

Dr. Scott Beyer, associate professor in the K-State Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, will offer training on proper egg grading and poultry disease screening for maintaining healthy flocks. Adam Inman, assistant program manager for food safety and lodging at KDA, will review Kansas rules and regulations for grading and selling eggs in Kansas. Grading eggs provides additional market opportunities for poultry farmers.

The workshop is funded through a Federal State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP) grant which KDA received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant award totals nearly $25,000 and in addition to the egg grading workshop will make available for poultry producers an egg grading resource manual and egg cell gauges.

The poultry industry, including egg production, contributes $113.5 million annually to the Kansas economy. Community workshops help KDA’s efforts to provide educational resources and support to help expand markets for agricultural products while encouraging economic growth of the agriculture industry.

The FSMIP grant provides matching funds to state departments of agriculture, state agricultural experiment stations, and other appropriate state agencies to assist in exploring new market opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products, and to encourage research and innovation aimed at improving the efficiency and performance of the marketing system.