Surrender is not an Option
News articles show some egg farmers and bloggers already concluding that conventional cages are history and that cage-free is the future of the egg industry. One of those bloggers with a multitude of degrees who releases his insights on Friday afternoons, also claimed earlier when the national egg legislation was being considered in Congress that “the smart money is on colony cages”. Those who didn’t sink capital into colony cages rejecting his prediction are glad now as the agenda of HSUS and the others have shown their intent is “no cages” and eventually no eggs from chickens for human consumption. The easiest victory for the animal activists is when farmers surrender the fight for conventional cage production from the multitude of articles showing food companies switching to cage-free. Total cage-free, which includes organic eggs, has grown 3 million chickens since last year, or just about 1% of the total number of chickens producing eggs nationwide. Some report it may be a bit higher. Imagine a military commander quitting the fight when he’s lost 1% of the ground or a bit more of what he’s defending in a battle. An effective military commander fights harder instead of quitting. Surrender is not an option for the independent egg farmers who hold to the clear facts that cages help reduce the mortality from pecking and help maintain a clean egg produced away from manure contamination. Surrender is not an option. Below are the statistics from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service on cage-free egg production.
Sept 2015 Mar 2015 Sept 2014 Apr 2014
Cage-free (%) 4.5 3.2 2.8 2.8
(layers) 12.2 mil 9.6 mil 8.5 mil 8.5 mil
Organic (%) 4.2 3.2 2.9 2.8
(layers) 11.4 mil 9.6 mil 8.1 mil 8.2 mil
Total Cage-Free (%) 8.6 6.3 5.7 5.7
(layers) 23.6 mil 19.2 mil 17.2 mil 16.6 mil
President - Stiebrs Farms
8 年Many large retailers and restaurant chains are claiming to become 100% cage free by then but can they all be garunteed supply? I think they're speaking too soon for the costs that farms have to spend to convert.
Owner
8 年Walmart has announced their intent to sell only cage-free eggs by 2025.
Owner
9 年During much of 2015 in California Cage-free White XL and LG were trading at the same or lower prices than colony-system eggs. Also the recent AI epidemic has some Midwest farmers thinking smaller production facilities provide less risk than large complexes. In order to justify the additional production costs associated with smaller flocks those farmers are looking for the higher prices associated with specialty eggs. Also, the high prices due to the shortage of conventionally-produced eggs because of the AI epidemic encouraged price-conscious consumers to switch to specialty eggs. Then consider that those large retailers like Costco and Target who have made a commitment to only sell cage-free eggs by the end of this decade will accelerate the growth of specialty eggs. There is also a growing number of specialty egg producers developing nationwide brands. Because of the number of different specialty eggs (organic, Omega-3, free-range, pasture- raise, cage-free, non-GMO, etc) a market quote, like the one Urner Barry now issues for conventionally-produced eggs, would be difficult if not impossible to determine. Today specialty eggs enjoy price stability as most production contracts are based on feed costs.