By Jessica Scott-Reid for Sentient Climate.
Broadcast version by Danielle Smith for Keystone State News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

For decades, the meat industry has been attempting to thwart undercover investigations with so-called “ag-gag laws,” state laws that criminalize the unauthorized recording of livestock farm operations. One way investigators have persisted, however, is with the use of drone technology, which can enable investigators to document conditions on farms that may not align with the claims on the label. Drone footage supplied key evidence in a case brought by animal advocacy group Animal Outlook against Alderfer Poultry Farm, Inc., a Pennsylvania egg brand that advertised its eggs as “free-roaming,” when footage revealed some of these hens were not afforded better welfare conditions in reality.

Alderfer has now agreed to settle the lawsuit for $287,500 and pledged to remove the “free-roaming” claim from its products. The company’s eggs are sold in stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, according to Animal Outlook. Sentient contacted Alderfer for comment but did not receive a reply.

Ben Williamson, executive director of Animal Outlook, tells Sentient he believes this is the first case in which a drone has been used to legally prove that an egg producer was making misleading claims. Piper Hoffman, senior director of legal advocacy for Animal Outlook tells Sentient that some of the spaces for hens in the footage were narrow, metal and bleak. “We saw no birds on the ground outside,” she says. “I don’t know if they ever saw the sun.”

Egg Producer Sued for Misleading Consumers

Drone footage from several Alderfer farms was taken by Animal Outlook in partnership with photojournalism organization We Animals in December 2023. The footage revealed that some hens labeled as “free-roaming” were in fact only provided small, covered and wire-floored porches that could only accommodate a fraction of the flock. Other farms appeared to provide animals with no outdoor access at all.

“For years the industry has gotten away with cruelty to animals by having huge walls that were only ever impenetrable by undercover investigations,” Williamson says. “Being able to fly drones from a public sidewalk on the street — public property over the top of a facility — allows us to see what’s going on behind those walls.”

The case, an action for consumer protection brought in the District of Columbia, and represented by Richman Law & Policy, also utilized consumer surveys to prove that Alderfer’s “free-roaming” claims were misleading the public. The surveys confirmed that when consumers looked at the true images of the brand’s egg facilities, “that was not what they expected from the term ‘free-roaming,’” says Hoffman.

Similar research conducted in Canada in 2024 found that when consumers were shown various “free run” packaging examples, only 14 percent correctly answered that the hens are still held indoors 24/7. According to Bryant Research, 68 percent “mistakenly believed these hens are housed in better conditions with outdoor space.”

Pamela Vesilind, assistant professor of law at Vermont Law School, explains why these surveys are critical: “You find overwhelmingly that consumers think free-roaming means one thing, when, in fact, that’s not at all what it means in this situation.”

Cage-Free, Free-Range…and Free-Roaming?

Some labelling claims made on eggs are legally defined by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agriculture Marketing Service. This includes “cage-free” and “free-range.” The agency does not define “free-roaming,” allowing the producer to evade the regulatory requirements.

USDA-graded eggs labeled as “cage-free” must provide hens the ability to roam freely within the facility and to “engage in natural behaviors.” These hens are not required to have access to the outdoors, but can and are often held in massive, windowless, warehouse-type barns.

USDA-graded free-range eggs are produced by hens who have the same indoor access as cage-free hens, but also must have continuous access to the outdoors during their laying cycle. Outdoor areas may be fenced or covered with netting. There is no mention of natural groundcover, grass or sunlight.

These specific labels, according to the USDA, “must undergo a review process to verify the claim is truthful.” These visits often happen once per year, or as little as every two years.

According to Animal Outlook’s Piper Hoffman, egg producers don’t have to participate in the voluntary USDA grading program, and if they don’t, they aren’t subject to USDA verification visits if they use either “free-range” or “cage-free.” As for “free-roaming,” says Hoffman, “there’s no regulation at all,” and no USDA oversight to verify the free-roaming label’s accuracy.

The use of class action lawsuits against egg producers is a popular tactic for advocates for farm animals. Two Illinois residents are currently suing Eggland’s Best Inc. in a class-action lawsuit in Chicago, over allegedly misleading claims that “cage free” hens are “free to roam in a pleasant, natural environment.” The plaintiffs argue that the hens are actually confined indoors in crowded, concrete windowless facilities. While this may meet “cage-free” requirements, “These hens are not ‘free to roam’ anywhere, and their living conditions are neither ‘natural’ nor ‘pleasant,’” they argue in the complaint.

Majority of Layer Hens Still Kept in Battery Cages

The egg industry, like much of the food industry writ large, is no stranger to misleading marketing. Various terminology around housing and handling, made with varying degrees of oversight — whether by government agencies, voluntary third parties or no one at all — make the egg-buying landscape confusing for consumers. 

Despite modest space improvements passed in a handful of states, around 60 percent of hens farmed for eggs in the U.S. are still confined to battery cages. These are the smallest cages allowed by law, providing at minimum 67 square inches of space — less than a sheet of paper — per bird for the majority of their lives.

The Bottom Line

The Alderfer case points to a larger problem of misleading claims on food labels. While consumers may seek higher-welfare eggs, the label on the carton does not necessarily reflect reality.

For now, Williams says he hopes this case will serve as an example for other animal protection organizations “that they can use cutting-edge photography to investigate other claims such as free-roaming in their jurisdictions, and hopefully make a difference for the lives of egg-laying hens around the world.”


Jessica Scott-Reid wrote this article for Sentient.


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As the Environmental Protection Agency scales back enforcement because of staff shortages and new federal rollbacks, concerns are growing in Michigan and across the country about who will hold polluters accountable.

Michigan, with more than 11,000 inland lakes and access to four Great Lakes holding 90% of the nation's freshwater, faces challenges as EPA budget cuts reduce enforcement by nearly 20% and eliminate more than 200 staff.

Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said in a recent webinar that his organization commissions polling and focus groups every two years on clean-water issues in the Great Lakes.

"And it's an 85% issue. It's almost as if, when you push people and you say, 'How much should we do to protect the Great Lakes and restore them?' he asked, "It's like, whatever it costs, you do it."

Supporters of EPA cuts, especially in energy, manufacturing and agriculture, contend strict environmental rules are too costly for businesses. In late 2024, more than 100 industry groups urged then-President-elect Donald Trump to roll back regulations they said were "strangling" the economy.

Partisanship continues to shape the debate over environmental laws, with lawmakers often split along party lines when it comes to regulations.

David Uhlmann, a former EPA official and environmental law attorney, stressed in the webinar the need to take politics out of environmental protection.

"The environmental laws require EPA working with the state to promote clean air, healthy rivers and streams, to make sure that we're living in communities free of toxic waste," he said. "Those laws apply regardless of who the president is."

In Fiscal Year 2024, the EPA's enacted budget was more than $9 billion, with a workforce of more than 15,000 employees.


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Washington lawmakers have created a new Prescribed Burn Liability Fund to help make controlled burns less risky on public, private and tribal lands across the state.

Advocates said low-intensity fires, which clear dead vegetation and small trees, are among the best tools to reduce wildfire severity but fears of runaway fires have limited their use.

Cody Desautel, executive director of the Colville Tribes, helped write the bill to create the fund. He said although there is risk, data from the Forest Service and other agencies show controlled burns are very safe.

"They pull off 99.84% of their burns within prescription within the planned footprint," Desautel pointed out. "The risk of it is really low but for the rare occurrences you see it, the cost can be fairly high."

Desautel noted a century of fire suppression has increased burnable materials in forests, causing more intense wildfires.

Indigenous people have practiced controlled burns for millennia, Desautel added, to both prevent fires and promote plant growth. To reduce wildfire damage, he argued the state needs a new approach.

"We're going to have to shift our perspective, how we deal with fire, how we create fire resilience," Desautel urged. "It has to be suppression in combination with fuels and forest health treatments that makes fires easier to manage."

Rep. Adam Bernbaum, D-Port Angeles, sponsored the bill to create the liability fund. He said when fires are bigger and harder to control, along with loss of life and property, it can also make things more expensive for communities living close to forest land.

"The rising property insurance rates there make it challenging for low-income, middle-income people across the state," Bernbaum observed.

Bernbaum hopes the new policy will help bring down insurance rates for homeowners and encourage more people to get certified to implement prescribed burns. He added the fund should be up and running by the beginning of 2026.


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The sale of public lands along with a rollback of protections for national monuments is back on the table now that Republicans control both houses of Congress.

During his first term, President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to reduce the size of national monuments in Utah and Nevada. The Washington Post set off alarm bells last month after it reported that New Mexico's Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks is among the six national monuments the Trump administration is considering for energy development.

Mark Allison, executive director of New Mexico Wild, said it is a complicated issue.

"We see attempts through the courts, the House rules process, through budget reconciliation and even federal legislation where they're trying to either turn what are public lands over to states or actually directly privatize them and sell them off to the highest bidder," he explained.

That came to pass last week when the House Natural Resources Committee passed legislation to sell or transfer 460,000 acres of federal lands in Nevada and Utah to local governments or private entities.

In the 2025 State of the Rockies survey, 72% of residents polled in eight Western states said they would prefer their member of Congress emphasize protecting clean air, water and wildlife habitat while boosting outdoor recreation over maximizing the amount of public land used for oil and gas drilling.

That was a 2% increase from the year before. But Allison fears public sentiment consistently expressed in the annual Colorado College poll could be ignored.

"If this comes, we want to be ready to have just an overwhelming and immediate response to tell the administration that we stand by our monuments in New Mexico and don't want to see them harmed," he added.

In the final days of his administration, President Joe Biden designated more than 600,000 acres of desert east of California's Coachella Valley as the Chuckwalla National Monument. But a Texas-based group has filed a lawsuit to stop the designation, arguing the president overstepped his authority.


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