A surge in holiday baking demand and the ongoing bird flu outbreak are pushing egg prices higher, although they remain below the peak levels seen two years ago.
RELATED: As the H5N1 bird flu continues to spread globally among different mammals, the World Health Organization's chief scientist, Jeremy Farrar, is warning that the risk to humans remains an "enormous concern." As Global’s Sean Previl reports, at this time there is a very low risk for humans and no need to change their day-to-day activities, but there are still precautions that can be taken globally.
The average price for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities was $3.37 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down slightly from September, and down significantly from January 2023, when the average price soared to $4.82. But it was up 63 per cent from October 2023, when a dozen eggs cost an average of $2.07.
Cage-free requirements are set to go into effect in Arizona, Colorado and Michigan next year and in Rhode Island and Utah in 2030.Demand for such specialty eggs may also be contributing to avian flu, which is spread through the droppings of wild birds as they migrate past farms. Allowing chickens to roam more freely puts them at greater risk, said Chad Hart, a professor and agricultural economist at Iowa State University.
“We have birds that have been displaced by hurricanes, by wildfires, and those birds are now circulating in areas that they otherwise might not circulate or at times of the year that they otherwise may not be circulating,” she said. “And those are all new variables that our farmers are having to deal with.”
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