Reference: Richmond Times Dispatch Article - Originally Written by Rick Hood

The age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, takes on new meaning during a time of egg shortages and price increases resulting from the culling of millions of chickens out of fear of the spread of avian flu. In fact, in the past year, upwards of 43 million egg-laying hens have been lost to either disease or depopulation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The immediate impact has been a significant decrease in egg inventories, resulting in empty shelves and price increases at most conventional grocery stores. Nationwide, wholesale egg prices jumped 267% during the busy holiday baking season. **An informal local Richmond survey saw a range of egg prices: $3.99 per dozen for conventional eggs, $4.99 per dozen for cage-free eggs and $6.99 to $8.50 for organic pasture or free-range eggs**, according to Ellwood Thompson’s purchasing director, Dan Lamprecht.

Although none of the chain stores offered local eggs, smaller markets with local eggs featured prices ranging from $5.40 to $7.99 per dozen, nearly at parity with the prices of industrial chain eggs. And while the industrial system struggled with inventory issues, smaller markets supplied by local farms saw few price increases or inventory issues. The fragile industrial system that produces most of the eggs Americans consume is more prone to market disruption when an epidemic like avian flu arises than are small local producers.

American consumers have been made more aware about the cruelty and dangers of factory farming over the past decade, but most consumers either cannot or will not tie that reality to the inexpensive groceries to which they have grown accustomed.

The systems that produce low-quality food are also breeding grounds for disease and suffering.

Over the past year, as avian flu has spread like lightning through facilities that house thousands and thousands of animals with little room to move, much less spread their wings, a single case of flu means death for all of them. The process of euthanasia, as it is sometimes politely called, or culling or depopulation is not humane. Their deaths usually come from a ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels. And for what? To maintain our commodity mindset where we are willing to spend only a few bucks for a dozen eggs.

**Egg Prices Soar**
Photo Credit: Jeff Haynes / Getty Images

But what if we turned the dialogue and paradigm to one of fairness and compassion and thought about the real cost of food? Eggs became expensive this year because a bad system failed, and that expense might one day expand beyond our pocketbooks and impact our health. What if we created a better system that is fairer to the animals and less of a threat to us? Are we willing to pay more to support a safer locally based food system?

Although there are not currently many cases of avian flu infecting humans, some scientists think the scenario for a more aggressive spread is not out of the question. As we struggle through a COVID-19 world, have we learned anything? With avian flu recently appearing in mammalian populations, the jump to humans in wider numbers is not out of the question. Will we be prepared?

A recent article by Marina Bolotnikova on Vox.com neatly summarizes the situation: “Confining millions of birds in conditions that endanger public health, and cruelly mass killing and dumping them when the system breaks, is unconscionable. A business model that not only permits this to happen but treats it as normal and makes the public foot the bill, isn’t worth the cheap eggs.”

Supporting local farmers and food systems is one way to move toward a better, healthier and more secure future for you as well as our society as a whole.

Reference: Richmond Times Dispatch Article - Originally Written by Rick Hood