Rose Acre Farms in Indiana: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Rose Acre Farms is a family-founded egg company headquartered in Seymour, Indiana, and is described in published sources as the second-largest egg producer in the United States. It grew from three hen houses and 900 chickens in 1939 into a multi-state operation with more than 2,000 employees, which makes it one of the clearest examples of Indiana agriculture at national scale.
| Location | Seymour, Jackson County, Indiana (headquarters); facilities in several states |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1939 (Rust family; incorporated that year per a published company history) |
| Sectors | shell eggs; egg products; organic fertilizer; processed soybean products |
| Scale | Reported as the second-largest U.S. egg producer, with more than 2,000 employees and facilities in Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina |
| Why it is elite | National ranking among U.S. egg producers and a vertically integrated operation from feed to packaged and processed eggs |
| Ownership | Privately held; founded by the Rust family, with David Rust and later Lois Rust and family members in management as published |
| Official website | Rose Acre Farms (Good Egg) official site |
History of Rose Acre Farms
The company traces its start to 1939, when the Rust family began farming near Seymour and built three hen houses for 900 chickens. David Rust began selling the family's eggs and corn at an Indianapolis farmers' market in 1943. The flock passed 100,000 hens in 1965 and reached one million in 1975, the period when Rust took full control of the business.
Growth then came in deliberate steps. In 1984 the company announced plans to add roughly one new egg farm each year for ten years, and by 1987 it had more than 8 million layers and ranked second among U.S. egg producers. By 2002 it reported more than 16 million layers. Leadership passed in 1989 to Lois Rust with help from the couple's children. A 1990 salmonella outbreak tied to six Indiana hen houses led the company to build its first egg-breaking plant, and in 1999 it began printing laid-on dates on eggs.
What Rose Acre Farms Grows and Raises
Rose Acre Farms produces fresh shell eggs, including brown eggs, and sells under the Good Egg name on its website. Published histories also list dried and liquid egg products for foodservice and institutional buyers, organic fertilizer made from by-products, and processed soybean products.
Animal welfare and biosecurity shape daily management at this scale. The company adopted industry animal welfare guidelines in 2002 and has offered some free-range eggs. Like every large layer operation, it has dealt with avian influenza; Indiana trade and local news reported an outbreak at an Indiana egg farm in early 2025, a reminder that disease control is a core operating cost for all poultry producers in the state.
How Rose Acre Farms Makes Money
Shell eggs for retail and foodservice
The core revenue stream is eggs sold fresh to grocers and food businesses. Selling in volume to retail and foodservice customers, and offering specialty cartons such as brown eggs, lets the company serve different price tiers from the same layer base.
Breaking stock and egg products
The company built an egg-breaking plant after the 1990 outbreak and now publicly lists dried and liquid egg products. Breaking eggs for ingredient buyers turns lower-grade or surplus shell eggs into a steadier commercial product.
By-products and soybean processing
Published company histories describe organic fertilizer and processed soybean products as part of the business. Selling fertilizer and soy products turns costs into extra product lines.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Rose Acre Farms
Growth by repeating a proven building block is the main lesson. The 1984 plan to add one egg farm a year shows how a producer can scale by copying a standard, well-understood unit rather than reinventing the operation each time. Smaller poultry or dairy operators can apply the same logic to barn modules and lender presentations.
A second lesson is to add processing and by-product outlets before they are forced on you. The egg-breaking plant and fertilizer lines gave the company options when shell-egg markets or regulations shifted. Any producer with large volumes should ask which grade, surplus or waste stream could become its own saleable product, and should treat biosecurity and traceability, such as dated cartons, as marketing assets as well as compliance.
A company that started with 900 hens near Seymour and now counts its flocks in the millions deserves a joke or two, and the team at farm.FM is happy to supply them. Our farm satire desk notes that the real farm humor in egg country is the dawn shift, when ranch humor about early mornings meets the farm jokes about which came first. No hen was harmed in the writing of this paragraph, and the egg business gets the last word on timing.
If the name is new to you, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site, with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers on the side. One of its regular writers keeps a whole archive of stories like that.
How to Contact Rose Acre Farms
Website: https://goodegg.com/
Rose Acre Farms is headquartered in Seymour, Indiana. Use the contact options on its own website for sales and company inquiries, as phone and address details were not confirmed here; this is a commercial producer, not a visitor attraction.
Rose Acre Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Rose Acre Farms official site - The company's own website and egg brand
- Rose Acre Farms overview - Summary of headquarters, states of operation and ranking
- Rose Acre Farms company history - Detailed timeline from 1939 to the early 2000s
- Indiana State Department of Agriculture programs - State programs including Indiana Grown, Clean Water Indiana and the Indiana Dairy Strategy
- USDA NASS 2022 Census of Agriculture, Indiana - State-level Census of Agriculture tables for Indiana
Rose Acre Farms FAQ
Where is Rose Acre Farms based?
Rose Acre Farms is headquartered in Seymour, Indiana, in Jackson County, and has facilities in several other states.
When did Rose Acre Farms start?
A published company history dates the business to 1939, when the Rust family built three hen houses holding 900 chickens near Seymour.
How big is Rose Acre Farms?
It is described as the second-largest U.S. egg producer. A 2002 company history reported more than 16 million layers, and current flock numbers should be confirmed with the company.
What does Rose Acre Farms sell besides shell eggs?
Published sources list dried and liquid egg products, organic fertilizer and processed soybean products.
Rose Acre Farms shows how a single family egg business in Seymour became a national producer by scaling in steps, adding processing and managing risk. For more operations that define the state, see the Indiana farms guide and the other profiles in this directory.