Egg prices are no yolk — we must turn to tighter biosecurity to deal with bird flu and get prices back to normal

In the last few months, eggs have become a political weapon, a common discussion topic and a widely misunderstood economic matter.

I have kept an eye on eggs since I was a kid. My first job on our farm was feeding about 120 hens and collecting their eggs. I was just 8, so when some ornery-looking hens pecked me on the hand when I reached under them, I fled to the house.

Mom laughed off my worries and sent me back to the henhouse. It took a few tries, but I finally grew comfortable grabbing the eggs and carrying them to the house. Mom and I took them to town every Saturday, where she sold them. That was a longtime way for farmwives to make some spending money for the home.

Egg production has evolved a long way from that. I have visited farms with tens of thousands of chickens that produce millions of eggs annually. There’s a lot of bucks in those birds. But sometimes, costs jump, as has been the case recently.

The cost of eggs increased in the last couple years, along with just about everything, and that is no yolk. People were getting scrambled and weren’t able to rest easy over the cost hikes.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the price of a dozen eggs rose 14 percent from November to December, and are expected to increase 20 percent this year. Some restaurants are adding surcharges to egg orders, and some grocery stores have limited sales.

“This is significant. This is having a big impact on the farmer, on the consumer throughout the country. Everybody’s feeling this,” said Bernt Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, or AFBF.

The cost of eggs, along with other products since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a factor in the 2024 election. President Joe Biden tried to slow inflation, but by Election Day, the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, was hurt by voters who were boiled over egg prices.

President Donald Trump hammered the Democrats on grocery prices during the 2024 campaign, and has seen prices rise since he took office a month ago. He told reporters he can’t be blamed for that.

“Well, there’s a flu,” Trump said. “Remember I’ve been here for three weeks. And when you saw the inflation numbers, I’ve been here for three weeks, I have had nothing to do with inflation. This was caused by Biden.”

He was referring to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, aka “the bird flu.” It has been blamed for the demise of 130 million birds since 2022, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The USDA requires entire flocks to be exterminated if the virus is discovered.

That was the rule during an earlier outbreak, and it is still in place. You can’t blame Biden for that. What you can do is join the call for tighter biosecurity.

New U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she will make dealing with the bird flu a priority, with an eye on egg prices.

“We are looking at every possible scenario to ensure that we are doing everything we can in a safe, secure manner, but also to ensure that Americans have the food that they need,” Rollins said. “And as a mom of four teenagers, actually, I fully understand and feel the pain of the cost of these eggs.”

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, Iowa Republicans, and Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, urged Rollins to learn from farmers who have seen the devastation the bird flu can cause and learned harsh lessons from it.

“The United States is now entering the fourth year of an outbreak of HPAI that has devastated farms, required the depopulation of more than 136 million birds on commercial poultry operations and infected a small but growing number of farm workers,” the senators, all members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote. “A new urgency is required from the USDA to address the evolving situation.”

They called for the formation of an HPAI Strategic Initiative to develop prevention methods and movement controls that apply to all animals at risk of contracting or spreading HPAI. In addition, they urged the USDA to ensure proper outreach to all farmers regarding HPAI indemnities.

“HPAI indemnities are similar to disaster assistance for crops and livestock — the funds respond to a catastrophic situation that producers could not have averted and never fully make up for the entire loss,” the letter, co-signed by 13 senators, both Republicans and Democrats, stated. “The indemnities also recognize that producers are legally compelled to depopulate their flocks in an HPAI infection — they do not have a choice. Even with revisions to indemnity formulas proposed by egg farmers, these payments will not come close to making producers whole for their losses.”

Rollins should consult with Iowa producers who lost millions of chickens and turkeys in the last year. They are showing remarkable resilience and are striving to enact effective biosecurity measures, while also continuing to meet the rising demand for eggs.

Those efforts are paying off in the way people can understand when they prepare breakfast. While there were 2 percent fewer layers in Iowa, the top egg-producing state, last year, they are dropping more eggs according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

On average, there were 43.8 million layers in Iowa last year. They laid 13.4 billion eggs. That’s an average of 307 eggs per bird, a 2 percent increase, and 17 more annually than the national average.

South Dakota chickens are producing more eggs, too. Our hens average 320 eggs annually, 6 percent more than last year and well above the national average. On average, there are 2.02 million layers in the state.

As long as people want eggs for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and that taste is only growing, our farmers will need to meet it. The bird flu is a major challenge, but it can be solved.

It needs to be eradicated, or at least tightly controlled, before it moves into the human population. So far, there have been a few dozen cases and one death connected to it.

Keep wild birds away from poultry, since they are carriers of the virus. Reduce the number of visitors, and track the people who come and go. Only have one entrance and exit, and control access.

Wear clean footwear to avoid tracking infected material. Wear disposable shoe covers and have plenty available for others. Spray disinfectant on all tires. Don’t use untreated water from streams or ponds and do not borrow tools or equipment from other farms. Watch for sick animals, and remove them immediately.

Our neighbors in northwest Iowa live and work in one of the most productive regions in the world for eggs. There are several large poultry operations, and many took a major hit in the last decade from the two bird flu outbreaks. They learned how to try to prevent future outbreaks.

That’s an assignment for all American farmers and people involved in the egg industry. It’s one they must ace to try to return to a time when eggs leave people feeling on the sunny side.

Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons