A More Honest Egg: How Mid-States Specialty Eggs is Redefining Farming in America

In an age when food labels compete for attention—organic, pasture raised, cage free—the story behind those labels can be difficult to parse. To many shoppers, eggs are eggs, lined up in cartons, priced by the dozen. But behind the shelves and marketing buzzwords is a quiet revolution in how those eggs are produced. And in the middle of that movement is a family-run company out of Missouri: Mid-States Specialty Eggs.

Founded in 2008 by former turkey farmers Marion Hostetler and his friend Dale Shrock, MSSE began as a response to a creeping discomfort. The industrial poultry industry was demanding more—more volume, more medication, more profit. Antibiotics became standard, not as treatment but as routine. For Hostetler and Shrock, both raised with the belief that food should nourish rather than compromise health, the contradiction became impossible to ignore.

“When you get to a point where you don’t want to eat the very birds you’re raising,” Hostetler recalls, “that’s when you know something is broken.”

From Turkeys to Eggs: A Humane Pivot

Leaving the turkey industry wasn’t easy. It meant stepping away from a reliable income and into a market saturated with massive players. But it also meant reclaiming control—over how animals were treated, how land was managed, and ultimately, how food made its way to the table.

Eggs, unlike turkeys, offered something different: daily sustainability. A hen laying an egg doesn’t need to be medicated with antibiotics from birth to slaughter. With access to open pastures, clean water, and natural feed, hens thrive without artificial interventions. It was, in many ways, a return to the kind of farming their grandparents might have recognized.

Today, MSSE supplies Free Range Eggs, Organic Eggs, and Pasture Raised eggs to consumers who increasingly demand transparency from the food system.

What’s in a Label?

To the untrained eye, “cage free” and “free range” might sound similar. But the difference, as MSSE likes to remind people, is dramatic.

• Cage free means hens aren’t confined to cages, but it doesn’t guarantee access to the outdoors.
• Free range ensures hens have that outdoor access, often in limited, controlled spaces.
• Pasture raised—MSSE’s gold standard—gives hens expansive outdoor fields where they can scratch, forage, and live far closer to their natural instincts.

It’s the kind of nuance consumers often miss, especially when standing in the fluorescent-lit aisle of a grocery store. But for Hostetler and Shrock, these distinctions matter because they translate directly into hen welfare, environmental sustainability, and ultimately, taste.

Taste as Proof

If you’ve ever cracked a pasture raised egg beside a conventional one, the contrast is hard to miss. The yolk of a pasture raised egg is darker, almost amber, and the flavor richer. Nutrition studies back up what taste buds suggest: these eggs often contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins.

For MSSE, that deeper flavor is less about marketing than about integrity. Their mission statement—“To produce the highest quality eggs with integrity and true customer service”—isn’t a tagline polished by consultants. It’s a philosophy that trickles down from farm to carton.

Supporting Family Farms

Behind every MSSE egg is a family farm. Unlike large corporations that centralize production, MSSE works with a network of independent farmers across the Midwest. These farmers, many of them Amish or Mennonite, operate on a scale that prioritizes stewardship over sheer output.

The relationship is symbiotic. Farmers gain a stable market for their eggs, while MSSE ensures their humane and sustainable practices are honored. The company provides guidance, infrastructure, and support, but never at the expense of autonomy.

“We’re not just building a business,” Shrock has said. “We’re building relationships.”

That philosophy reflects in their vision: “Meeting the needs of our farmers, customers, and employees by producing exceptional products and building relationships that support our culture and honor God.”

Doing Things the Right Way

Industrial farming often reduces animals to numbers. Efficiency trumps welfare, and consumer choice becomes constrained by corporate priorities. MSSE deliberately pushes against that grain.

Their hens are not subjected to routine antibiotics. They live in conditions that encourage natural behaviors—scratching, dust bathing, foraging. Their eggs are collected, packaged, and delivered with minimal processing. The goal isn’t to chase trends but to produce food they themselves are proud to eat.

This approach doesn’t always yield the cheapest dozen on the shelf, but it offers something different: trust. In a market crowded with vague promises, that trust is a commodity in itself.

The Broader Movement

MSSE isn’t alone in questioning industrial farming. Across the country, consumers are driving demand for transparency and humane practices. But while some companies lean heavily on branding, MSSE leans on substance.

Organic certification isn’t a gimmick—it’s a baseline. Pasture access isn’t a selling point—it’s standard. The integrity of the food is not negotiable.

As one customer put it after touring a partner farm: “It wasn’t about what they told me. It was about what I saw—the hens outside, the fields green, the care obvious.”

Challenges on the Horizon

Of course, the humane path isn’t the easiest. Weather affects pastures, predators threaten flocks, and the logistics of working with dozens of independent farms are complex. Competing with industrial-scale pricing is another constant challenge.

But for MSSE, those challenges are the point. Farming isn’t supposed to be about cutting corners; it’s about making choices that may be harder in the short term but better in the long run.

Eggs as a Mirror of Values

There’s something almost symbolic about the egg itself—fragile yet resilient, ordinary yet essential. For MSSE, each egg represents more than protein or profit. It’s a reflection of values: humane care, environmental stewardship, and respect for both farmers and consumers.

When Hostetler says they wanted to produce “a healthy product for the consumer in a way that supports our family farms,” it’s clear he means it literally. An MSSE egg is not just food; it’s a quiet act of resistance against a system that often forgets food is supposed to nourish.

Conclusion: A Better Way, One Egg at a Time

Fifteen years after its founding, Mid-States Specialty Eggs remains small compared to industrial giants. But scale isn’t the point. Integrity is.

In Broken Arrow or Boston, a carton of organic eggs from MSSE carries the same story: farmers who refused to compromise, hens allowed to live naturally, and consumers invited to choose food they can feel good about.

In the end, MSSE isn’t just selling eggs. They’re selling trust, history, and a vision of farming that—while perhaps harder—feels more honest.

And maybe that’s the kind of nourishment we need most.