Eggs express

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff
This is a story about the egg and its trip from the largest egg producer in the state, here on Wyndale Road in Washington County, to the distribution center in Abingdon and to the store and consumer. This week, in part 2 of 3, we’ll look at how the eggs get from point A to point B.

Brian Ditto normally checks his load the night before at Dutt & Wagner headquarters in Abingdon. The next morning he takes the wheel of a 28-foot tractor-trailer rig and begins driving. He drives into North Carolina and Tennessee, sometimes spending 13 hours on the road.
“Everybody in cars thinks they can pull out in front of trucks and you can slow down,” he said.
In fact, it takes trucks twice as long to stop.
The first day behind the wheel, Ditto hit a deer. But it didn’t faze him.
“I always thought about (driving trucks) but I never thought I would,” Ditto said.
In addition to sister company Green Valley Poultry Farm’s eggs, Dutt & Wagner distributes 1,000 other products, including beef, poultry, pork, deli items and packaging materials.  They export Green Valley Poultry Farm eggs to countries in the Middle East and India. And they deliver truckloads of products to more than 3,000 locations in six states. In Washington County, they deliver to restaurants, small stores and grocery chains Food Lion and Food Country. Often the eggs are graded and delivered the same day.
Ditto’s Mack truck bounces down Watauga Road on its way to Cowboys and In the Country in Damascus. Floating above and seeming to take up the entire width of the road, oncoming traffic slips past.
Since Ditto’s been driving a truck, the constant motion has affected him. He said he feels like he’s always on the move even when he’s not at work.
“Everybody wants to be first, I always have a place to be,” he said. “It works on you.”
Dutt & Wagner was founded in Pennsylvania in 1926 by Lori Wagner’s grandfather and his brother-in-law.
Wagner began collecting eggs at 6 years old on her dad’s egg farm in Rhea Valley. At 13, she got her first job filing invoices in the Dutt & Wagner office. One of her earliest memories was the smell of eggshells on her father when he’d come home from work.
Dutt & Wagner now has 100 employees.
Ditto changes lanes to avoid a patch in the road.
He’s been driving trucks for six years now. He said he often gets tunnel vision when he’s driving and forgets to look around.
“It’s nice not being at the same place all day long,” Ditto said. “It’s nice knowing where you’re going.”
To contact Caitlin Sullivan e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (276) 628-7101.
To view the first article in this three part series on Washington County eggs visit http://www.swvatoday.com and search “eggs.”