For decades, Hickman’s Family Farms has portrayed itself as a wholesome, Arizona-born success story: a family-run operation supplying millions of eggs across the Southwest. But behind the cheerful branding lies a reality far less sunny. As Arizona’s largest egg producer, Hickman’s raises up to 13 million hens at a time in massive factories across the state. It is at the center of a growing controversy involving broken promises, exploited workers, toxic pollution, and animal suffering.

Hickman’s Lobbies to Delay Landmark Animal Welfare Legislation

In 2020, Arizona passed a law requiring all eggs sold in the state to be cage-free by 2026, one of ten similar laws in the United States. Celebrated by the general public, animal advocates, and public health and consumer protection organizations, this legislation was considered a landmark shift away from one of the egg industry’s cruelest practices. At the time, Hickman’s supported the move, aligning itself with popular opinion and animal welfare improvements. But fast forward to 2025, and Hickman’s quietly lobbied to delay the law's implementation. The company’s plot worked. Governor Hobbs signed off on a seven-year delay, pushing the requirement to 2034.

We suspect that Hickman’s was never serious about implementing animal welfare initiatives. In a classic case of greenwashing, it backed the legislation when appearing progressive was convenient. Then Hickman’s quietly abandoned its promise, lobbying to evade the cost of compliance. Now, as Arizona’s dominant egg supplier, Hickman’s stands to benefit handsomely by sticking with the status quo: confining hens to cages in which each bird is afforded a space barely larger than a sheet of printer paper.

Following this development, the Fair Agriculture Council decided to look deeper into Hickman’s other business practices, and we found a deeply troubling track record.

Hickman Blames Incarcerated Workers Who Lost Limbs on the Job

Hickman’s has long relied on prison labor through contracts with the Arizona Department of Corrections. According to Prison Legal News, Hickman’s contracts more than 300 incarcerated workers at a time for dangerous, underpaid work. These individuals are tasked with operating industrial machinery, managing manure, and maintaining facilities under dangerous conditions.

From 2018 to 2022, incarcerated workers at Hickman’s facilities suffered over 250 injuries, including crushed limbs and amputations. One man lost his leg after being pulled into a manure auger. Others suffered crushed hands, broken bones, and amputated fingers.

A 2023 exposé in Cosmopolitan, titled “How a Giant Egg Farm Made Money Off Women Prisoners in Dangerous Conditions” details the harrowing experience for many prisoners working for Hickman’s facilities. The company created a prison labor camp specifically for incarcerated women, at least 19 of whom were injured in the span of just nine months. Speaking of the camp, an Arizona Department of Corrections director admitted the department “chose female inmates” because they are “less challenging to manage –– and far more compliant in many settings.”

Disturbed by this characterization of women as compliant, SUNY-Buffalo Sociology and Criminology professor Erin Hatton stated, “No matter how many times they say it’s about rehabilitation and opportunity and skill development, that does not seem to be what’s happening here … There’s an economic push that will compel them to tolerate too much.”

In response to allegations of unsafe working conditions, Hickman’s CFO Jim Manos dismissed the injuries, explicitly implying that if workers get hurt, they likely have themselves to blame. His indifference to these womens’ suffering has become symbolic of the company’s stance on worker safety.

“Hickman’s could not have cared less about my injury and proves this by putting the blame on me and others who have been injured at their farm,” responded one worker whose finger was sliced off.

“When you’re working your butt off and you’re just being put through the wringer … it just does something to you,” another worker said. “I honestly don’t know how I made it some nights.”

Hickman’s Made Every Effort to Escape Accountability for Worker Abuse

It’s abhorrent how far Hickman’s will go to deflect blame or refuse responsibility for workers’ injuries. In 2021, a company lawyer asked the Arizona Department of Corrections to revise its contract so that the facility would not be responsible for prisoner injuries or deaths. The request was denied, according to emails obtained by the Associated Press.

The following year, a newly formed nonprofit directed by Billy Hickman, one of the company’s top executives, lobbied for legislation that would block prisoners from introducing their medical costs into lawsuits and potentially limiting settlement payouts. The bill was successfully signed into law.

We’re All For Real Rehabilitation –– But Stand Against Abuse

The Fair Agriculture Council supports initiatives that prioritize rehabilitation, fair compensation, and safe working conditions for incarcerated individuals. Programs that provide meaningful job training and pathways to reintegration are essential, but Hickman’s model is not that kind of program. Clearly, its sole purpose is to exploit an extremely vulnerable population for cheap labor. And as their numerous lobbying wins prove, they have the money and power to ensure it stays that way.

*Hickman’s Factory Farm via Google Earth*

The Friendly Family Farmer Polluting Communities, Suing Neighbors

Workers are not the only people Hickman’s is willing to sacrifice for profit. It also wrecks the environment and poisons its own neighbors. The company’s mega-facility in Tonopah emits over 1,000 pounds of ammonia per day, subjecting residents to an unbearable stench, fly infestations, and burning respiratory symptoms. Multiple families have had to abandon their homes or shutter businesses due to the pollution; many have seen property values plummet.

One impacted resident who lived in the area for a decade before Hickman’s moved in described the stench of the company’s operation: “It stinks like decaying flesh.” “They’re an industrial blight, not a typical farm,” said another. For years, the community fought back with public comments and lawsuits. In response, rather than clean up its mess, Hickman’s countersued residents who complained and even flew drones over their homes, an intimidation tactic meant to collect surveillance footage without consent.

In 2018, a federal court found Hickman’s in violation of environmental law for failing to report hazardous emissions. The company walked away with a mere $3,000 fine.

Animal Cruelty: DxE’s Disturbing Footage

In 2019, Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) released undercover footage from a Hickman’s egg facility in Arlington, Arizona. The video showed hens crammed in cages with decomposing corpses, struggling to breathe in air thick with ammonia and dust.

Hickman’s didn’t deny the conditions. Instead, it emphasized the “criminal trespass” of the activists who filmed it. Since the exposé, there have been no publicly reported changes to improve welfare conditions at its facilities. While hundreds of food companies such as McDonald’s and Costco have largely phased out eggs from inhumane battery cage facilities, Hickman’s is set on maintaining this archaic practice as long as it can.

Hickman’s Farm, Photo Credit: Direct Action Everywhere

It’s time for Hickman’s Public Reckoning

In response to these findings, we launched HickmansExposed.com to raise awareness and call for action. We’ve also contacted major companies known to carry Hickman’s eggs.

What we uncovered in our investigation was deeply disturbing. When viewed together, the animal cruelty, exploitation of incarcerated workers, environmental damage, and pattern of aggressive legal tactics paint a clear picture — not of a company that made mistakes, but of one fundamentally indifferent to harm. Hickman’s appears determined to maximize profit, no matter the cost to animals, workers, or communities. That’s why we’re taking action.

Sprouts Farmers Market informed us it no longer sources from Hickman’s. Costco — once a major buyer — appears to have quietly removed Hickman’s products from its shelves. These decisions reflect growing discomfort with Hickman’s practices.

In response to our email which announced our effort to Hickman’s CEO Glenn Hickman, he said:

“If you have any notion of fairness, you would have asked a few questions before passing judgment.”

But what questions remain? Don’t the years of lawsuits, investigations, and firsthand accounts inquire enough? And the answers are clear: Hickman’s is a company with no notion of fairness itself.

Our Call to Action

We urge all companies still doing business with Hickman’s, including Fry’s, Farmer Boys, and Bashas, to reevaluate their partnerships. At a minimum, they must launch independent investigations into Hickman’s labor, environmental, and animal welfare practices.

We believe consumers deserve transparency, and communities deserve clean air, safe work, and protection from companies that operate outside ethical bounds.

Visit HickmansExposed.com to learn more and take action.

Hickman’s Eggs’ Business Model: Exploited Prison Labor, Pollution, Animal Cruelty