Summary
Major egg corporations may be using avian flu as a ruse to hike up prices, generating record profits while hurting American consumers, new research suggests.
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Egg prices soared to nearly $5 a dozen, rising 157% since before the avian flu outbreak, despite only a 9% drop in laying hens.
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Cal-Maine, controlling 20% of the US market, saw a sevenfold profit increase in 2023 compared to 2021.
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Over 166 million poultry have been culled, but critics say consolidation and slow flock replacement may inflate prices beyond the virus’s 12-24% direct cost.
Lawmakers urge investigations, while the Trump administration plans vaccines, reduced culling, and a $1bn avian flu fund to help stabilize costs.
The fact that the upfront cost can be prohibitive and actual effort is involved but people are still doing it should tell you just how bad things have gotten. Plus, the more people that do it, the more they can teach others and help them out. I know people who got chickens after a neighbor got chickens and they saw how beneficial it was and if their neighbors can do it they certainly could as well.