Here’s how a 23-year-old farmer came to raise thousands of hens for Vital Farms’ pasture-raised eggs

Farming is in Joseph Patterson’s blood. The 23-year-old Arkansas native grew up in a farming family, raising everything from cattle to pigs to produce. Even so, he didn’t consider it as a career at first.

As a college student, Patterson had aspirations of being an accountant, and later a football coach. But somehow he has found himself as the sole caretaker of a nearly 60 acre farm that is home to hens that lay pasture-raised eggs for Vital Farms, a company whose mission is to bring ethically produced food to America’s kitchens. Patterson considered raising broiler chickens — those raised solely for meat — but a trip to a friend’s farm who was working with Vital Farms changed all of that.

The company’s approach, in which the hens have the freedom to roam outside, was a completely new concept to him. “It was just so different, seeing the birds actually going outside and foraging,” he said. “They all looked happy.

They weren’t just laid up in the barns. They were flying around and playing. ” That philosophy also inspired the farm’s name: Roaming P Farm.

Patterson recalls learning about how buffalo roam in a college biology class — and has been a strong proponent of letting animals roam free ever since. Couple that with the fact that the letter P stands for poultry and Patterson, and he had himself a name. “It just fit,” he said.

Patterson began working with Vital Farms in December 2021 and spent the first few months setting up his farm and operations. Each of his “girls,” as Vital Farms affectionately refers to its hens, has access to at least 108 square feet per hen of pasture to roam free and forage outdoors as they please. He had to set up a barn, the nests, and the egg sorter, among other things — all with the help of Vital Farms’ farm support team.

The first day Patterson got to see his girls roam outside was a momentous one for him. “Opening the doors to the barn and being able to let them out was my favorite moment so far,” he said, adding he has the same feeling each morning when he lets them out after a night in the barn where the girls sleep for their safety and protection. “The hens quite literally run outside.

It’s the best part of my day. ” The day starts at 6 a. m.

with Patterson doing a walk-through of the barn, checking on water and food for the girls, and making sure the nests are open. Then comes the fun part: gathering the eggs. From there, they are stored in a cooler at the farm, and once a week are picked up and taken to Springfield, Missouri, where Vital Farms’ egg processing facility, Egg Central Station, is located.

There they are washed, packed, then shipped to supermarkets and food-service operators across the country. Patterson currently lives off the farm, but he has plans to be much closer: He’s building what he calls a “hendominium,” a name his father has given to the 2,400-square-foot apartment Patterson is building that is attached to the egg room of his barn. It’s complete with an open concept kitchen, living room, separate laundry room, and a primary bedroom.

“You can’t show up late to work if you’re living there,” he said with a laugh. Though Patterson has some help from his parents and fiancé, Roaming P Farm is pretty much a one-man operation, which makes the support that Vital Farms offers even more valuable. The company provides a farm support crew that is available to help farmers set up and answer questions as they come up — usually answering texts or calls within an hour, Patterson said.

Vital Farms’ care for its farmers is an example of the company’s practice of “Conscious Capitalism,” by which it considers each the long-term sustainability of its stakeholders — farmers and suppliers, customers and consumers, communities and the environment, crew members and stockholders — in its business decisions. “The people that work for Vital Farms actually care about the farmer because if they help the farmer out, then obviously the birds are helped as well,” he said. “That’s something that sets Vital Farms apart.

” As he approaches the one-year mark of working with Vital Farms, Patterson is still learning but looking forward to what’s next. Ideally, he would like to expand and build another barn at some point. “I’m excited for the future,” he said.

“I’m excited to see how far this goes and how far it’ll take me in life. ” Find out more about how Vital Farms is bringing ethically produced food to tables around the country. This post was created by Insider Studios with Vital Farms .

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