Eggs are all over the news. Every time I ride in the car and turn on the radio seems someone is talking about their eggtrxa cost they see almost week after week at the store.

In all I have read and seen, though, there are two things no one mentions.

First, one of the main drivers of rising eggs prices? Gov't subsidies. You see, the government insurance programs actually make it more profitable for farmers to "liquidate" their flocks if they get even a single confirmed case of something like bird flu than take any measures to keep the flocks alive and well.

This means a few sick hens in an otherwise healthy operation can wipe out hundreds of thousands of birds at a time... and the government cuts a massive check to the operation to cover its losses.

Its a startling realization - we have to pay TWICE for those pricey eggs. At the store and then again at tax season.

Second, less than 100 years ago 80% or so of eggs in the United States came from flocks less than 100 birds in size... let that sink in. Almost everyone was eating eggs just a few generations ago from backyard, homesteader, or small farm scale flocks.

Now 98.3 or more of eggs come from CAFO style cage of barn operations, ranging in numbers from the lows thousands into the millions. Operations that only exist because of billions in direct and indirect government subsidies.

These intensive, confined operations are breeding grounds for all sorts of problems. And... they produce terrible quality eggs, eggs that across a wide range of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, contain 1/3, 1/2, and sometimes 1/10 the amount of certain things than eggs from pastured hens.

The good news? We could in a decade move a large percentage of egg production back where it belongs - back to backyards, homesteads, and small farms across the nation.

And consumers are looking for that option. Demand for real eggs is through the roof. Consumers are willing to pay a few extra dollars for good quality eggs from healthy hens.

We just need more folks to raise the flocks!

John

(if you want to read my full write up on rising egg prices, you can catch it here)

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