How? Sunlight keeps his chicken safe, says Grove Ladder Farm’s owner.
By Isaac Eger/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: June 6, 2025
Host: Soaring egg prices changed the outcome of the last presidential elections, it could be argued. A family farm in DeSoto County seems to have found the right answer to the main cause of those soaring egg prices. Isaac Eger with Suncoast Searchlight reports.
Isaac Eger: Grove Ladder Farm sits at the end of a dirt road deep in DeSoto County.
Owned and operated by Tim and Chelsea Clarkson, the farm’s 13 acres spread out in green pastures shaded by Spanish moss-draped giant oaks.
The farm also boasts a flock of roughly a thousand chickens that roam the grounds.
The Clarkson family operates Grove Ladder Farm outside Arcadia. Photo by Manny Rangel via Suncoast Searchlight.
The Clarksons established Grove Ladder Farm in 2010, soon after they married. Chelsea had just finished college, and the couple, who grew up in Sarasota and have known each other since middle school, wanted a simple farm life that prioritized good, whole food and responsible stewardship of the land.
That they’ve managed to run a profitable venture while raising five children in a small cabin fills them with pride. It also offers a valuable lesson: The Clarksons’ sustainable, ethical land and husbandry practices have allowed them to weather the avian flu crisis that has shaken the factory farm egg industry nationwide.
Grove Ladder eggs are the couple’s main venture, and their chickens produce about 650 of them a day. The Clarksons have managed to keep their flock healthy and their egg prices steady at $7.25 a dozen.
Tim credits this feat to the practice of pasture-based farming, which means that all their animals are outside in the sun, feeding on fresh grass 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Despite the rising threat of the deadly avian flu, the Clarksons have managed to keep their flock healthy. Photo by Manny Rangel via Suncoast Searchlight
Contrast this with the kind of large poultry operations that produce the majority of commercially available eggs. These factory farms typically warehouse as many as a half-million chickens, confined for the entirety of their lives in small cages and fed genetically modified grain.
Even eggs labeled “cage-free” can mislead consumers. Cage-free just means the birds are allowed to roam inside a huge warehouse, again eating genetically modified grain, without ever seeing the sun or pecking dirt.
When an egg carton label at the grocery store says “caged-free organic”—something that sounds healthier and more ethical—the grain is organic and the barned chickens have access to the outdoors, but it’s often just a fenced-in concrete pad or, at best, a dusty yard.
All of these scenarios provide the perfect environment for viruses like avian influenza to spread.
And spread it has. Since 2022, the virus has infected or killed more than 160 million poultry. A new version of the virus emerged last fall and has since spilled over to dairy cows and humans.
The health of the flock has allowed Grove Ladder to maintain their egg prices of $7.25 a dozen. Photo by Manny Rangel via Suncoast Searchlight
In the first three months of this year alone, more than 10% of the nation’s egg-laying population has been killed to prevent the spread of the disease. This has caused the average wholesale price for large, white-shell eggs to reach a record-breaking $8.17 a dozen in early March.
Even backyard flocks have been affected by the virus, including in Florida. But Tim said the chances of an outbreak diminishes with chickens, like his, that are exposed to direct sunlight.
This is corroborated by a 2013 study that found the virus was inactivated within half an hour in the presence of sunlight, and up to four days in the shade.
The Clarksons use the Joel Salatin method of raising poultry. Salatin, a Virginia farmer who gained fame after being featured in Michael Pollan’s 2006 book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” promoted a regenerative farming method that has since become the standard among small-scale agriculturalists.
The method advocates for a rotational grazing technique with movable electric fencing that mimics the natural pattern of wild herds.
For Suncoast Searchlight, Isaac Eger. To read more about the Clarksons and Grove Ladder, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/desoto-county-farm-grove-ladder-avian-flu.
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