Making Feed Safer for Livestock
Theo Newbold
FFAR Fellow, Penn State University
The Egg-Tech Prize seeks to revolutionize global egg production by offering up to $6 million in prizes to develop a technology that determines an egg’s sex before it hatches.
The Egg-Tech Prize seeks to revolutionize global egg production by offering up to $6 million in prizes to develop a technology that determines an egg’s sex before it hatches.
This program is not accepting applications.
About the Egg-Tech Prize
Several billion female layer chicks, those that become hens, are hatched each year to supply the world’s eggs. A similar number of male chicks are also produced but never make it to market. The male chicks cannot lay eggs and their poor growth and meat quality make them unsuitable for consumption. As there is no need for male chicks, they are culled once hatched. Male chick culling is a major animal welfare challenge and creates lost-opportunity costs for farmers.
We launched this research initiative with Open Philanthropy to develop technology that determines an egg’s sex before it hatches. This research could enable producers to use more than 6 billion male eggs for food, animal feed or vaccine production. Additionally, eggs are incubated for 21 days before they hatch. This technology could vastly reduce the cost and carbon footprint of incubating layer eggs, while freeing up space for the incubation of female eggs – increasing the efficiency of production.
Egg-Tech Prize Awarded Grants
A multiplexed chemical sensor system to automate non-invasive, in-ovo sex determination for the poultry industry
Year Awarded 2023
Total award amount $494,956
Location Davis, CA
Program Egg-Tech Prize
Matching Funders Open Philanthropy
Grantee Institution SenseIT Ventures, Inc.
High-throughput in-ovo sexing of chicken eggs using hyperspectral imaging & Raman spectroscopy
Year Awarded 2023
Total award amount $499,331
Location De Klomp, The Netherlands
Program Egg-Tech Prize
Matching Funders Open Philanthropy
Grantee Institution HatchTech Group
Project Ella
Year Awarded 2023
Total award amount $495,990
Location Leiden, The Netherlands
Program Egg-Tech Prize
Matching Funders Open Philanthropy
Grantee Institution In Ovo
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