Iowa is having to cull more birds...after an outbreak of avian flu at a northwest Iowa commercial turkey facility. This latest outbreak...in Buena Vista County...brings the number of turkeys, chickens and other birds the state has culled to nearly 16 million. Iowa has been the hardest hit...but nationwide, more than 58 million birds have been affected.
It’s one of the main reasons we continue to see eggs at the store at the highest levels in 50-years.and that has lawmakers and an activist group called “Farm Action” asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible price gouging and deceptive practices, concerned major egg producers might be taking advantage of the situation.
Lawmakers including Senator Jake Reed of Rhode Island have asked for the probe noting egg prices were up 138% in December verses a year ago, while the largest egg producers in the U.S. Cal-Maine Foods reported record profits of $323 million in their most recent quarter, up more than 22%
Nationwide eggs in December averaged $4.25 per dozen compared to $1.78 a year ago, putting the squeeze on consumers like Jeanette Bochniak a San Diego County Resident: “I’ve seen 18 eggs for eight bucks.” Lilly Torres, Mother of Three says, “You have to think about it, like, ‘do I really need to put three eggs in this recipe right now? It’s gonna be more expensive than putting in meat!”
Lawmkers are pointing to USDA data that shows the layer flock is only 6-percent below normal levels. But a Purdue economist says that number is much higher spread out over the whole year, plus add in general food inflation and the underlying economics don’t warrant a probe.
Jayson Lusk, Food and Agriculture Economist, Purdue University says, “In particular we’ve had higher feed prices, the other input costs have been much higher too, but the big reason is bird flu, when you lose 10 to 15% of the flock in the course of a year it has a significant impact on egg prices.”
And he says the price of eggs is fairly inelastic. “There are not good options for you to substitute for and as a result consumers purchases of eggs tend to be fairly price insensitive. Consumer demand is inelastic and as a result small changes in quantity end up causing big changes in prices.” Lusk also says this bird flu outbreak has been different than 2015 because the numbers are higher and there has been a second wave of cases this fall and winter. He says the good news is egg prices in the store should start to fall soon as producers can quickly repopulate and ramp up production.
