Been wondering what's up with egg prices? Here's what's really going on
There are many events that could be causing the spike in egg prices, but the answer is more devious than you think.
Join WeBull today, deposit ANY AMOUNT and get free stocks! Click here.
I think no matter what side of the political spectrum you’re on, we can all agree on one thing: Food prices are getting out of control.
The most startling recent example of this is, of course, eggs.
Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that egg prices have risen a staggering 138% year-over-year, leading Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island to send a letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan about launching an investigation into potential collusion and price-gouging by Big Egg.
That’s the name I’m giving them, I do not apologize.
“Many in the egg industry have pointed to last year’s avian flu outbreak as the reason behind these substantial price increases. However, as early as May 2022 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service found that “the price increase” observed in the egg sector was “much larger than the decreases in production” caused by the avian flu. Indeed, while prices are up 138%, the American Egg Board recently reported that U.S. egg producer flocks are only 6% below normal levels. USDA also observed little effort among the largest egg producers to increase production to moderate record prices. It is also worth noting that small producers, which have faced many of the same market challenges as the biggest producers, have managed to keep prices under control.” Senator Reed writes.
Cal-Maine Foods is the United States’ largest egg producer, enjoying a 20% market share of all retail egg market sales. So it should come as no surprise that they’ve been making money hand-over-fist in light of astronomical price increases.
Cal-Maine Foods has reported record profits of $323 million in the most recent quarter of the fiscal year, swinging from a loss of $16.8 million during the same period in the previous year. Their profit margins surged quarter-over-quarter as well, from -2.4% (That’s negative 2.4%) to 22.3%.
Still think it’s Avian flu causing these price surges, like they said? Not likely.
Unless the 6% of chickens lost to Avian flu were producing the lion’s share of the eggs hitting the shelves in supermarkets across this nation, that answer is bullshit.
Still, the mainstream narrative is being maintained on behalf of their puppet masters, with pseudojournalistic gatekeeper publications like Ars Technica — more like Arse Technica — sticking up for Big Egg in response to the outcry from consumers by claiming that we’re in “the deadliest Avian flu outbreak in U.S. History”.
That may indeed be true but it still doesn’t explain why we live in a time where you could leave a few eggs as a tip at a restaurant and the wait staff would be ecstatic about it.
With the numbers I just presented, there has to be another factor at play here.
Recently, there have been a rash of independent farmers whose posts on social media about their own woes with their chickens simply not producing eggs have gone viral. Their problems aren’t from random fires destroying the facilities where they house their chickens or Avian flu, their problems have to do with what some are calling ‘tainted’ feed.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Numerous videos like the one posted above are depicting private farmers describing situations where they discovered that the commercial feed they have been giving their chickens has caused a decline in egg production to the point of the decline becoming a complete stoppage, in some cases.
The product mentioned most often in these videos that seems to have caused a drastic decline in egg production amongst hens is called Producer’s Pride, made by Purina. Many are blaming genetically modified ingredients in the feed, and I’m inclined to agree since many don’t realize that our food supply has been beleaguered by GMOs produced by companies like Monsanto for 30+ years now.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find long-term studies about the effects of regular consumption of GMOs, either.
It wasn’t until July 29th, 2016 that then-President Barack Obama signed the “GMO Labeling Law” into law, allowing consumers to finally be apprised of whether or not they’re eating someone’s lab experiment masquerading as food. Before that, you had no prior knowledge that you were eating “frankenfoods” unless you rigorously investigated the companies making the products yourself. Few would ever go to that trouble to verify the wholesomeness of their own food, much less that of their pets and/or livestock.
If you’re using Purina products for your livestock, consider switching to something else. If the feed contains corn or soy, then they are almost certainly guaranteed to be tainted with GMOs. And clearly those GMOs aren’t on the level if they’re causing chickens to stop laying eggs entirely.
Is it at least a little possible that all these factors up until now could constitute an egg shortage so massive that the current price gouging we’re seeing is warranted? No. It’s still not enough. So what else is there?
There is much talk referring to farming operations and food processing facilities
(including egg farms like this one in Minnesota) that were burned in 2022, but the simple answer is that massive egg producers saw an opportunity to erase their losses from the heights of covid hysteria and they took it by ratcheting up the prices exponentially while using comparatively modest woes as a catalyst.
As I previously mentioned, there is no tangible reason — even with everything I’ve stated — for why price gouging is warranted.
The real devious part of all of this is the fact that eggs are possibly the most complete food on the planet, and having had quite a few people who have kept chickens in my family, I know first-hand that they’re an invaluable source of nutrition for hard times. And there was a time when you didn’t have to keep chickens to reap the benefits of eggs.
Poor people could easily buy enough eggs for several meals with the change in their pocket before the current instance of price gouging began. That was clearly a problem for somebody. Enter Big Egg. Also known as the Egg Cartels. Also known as the Egg Mafia.
Oh you didn’t know that there’s an egg mafia? There is. It’s called the American Egg Board. Of course if you hear them tell it, they’re actuall a “Farmer Advocacy Organization” — lending credence to George Carlin’s theory about anyone adding too many syllables to the terms they use to describe something. If they have to use flowery language, they’re probably trying to trick you.
Established in 1975 by way of a referendum amongst egg producers, the American Egg Board now enjoys considerable power in determining the price of their valuable commodity, effectively working together to run up the price considerably. We call that collusion, where I’m from.
If this scenario reminds you of anything, it should remind you of how razor manufacturers got together and decided to work together to run the price through the roof to pad their bottom lines.
Next, the egg mafia will probably mimic the razor-razor blade business model by selling the egg and the shell separately, or something. Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore, and this wouldn’t either.
”That’s a good source of calcium if you can manage to digest it,” they’ll probably say of the eggshell.
Ultimately, I believe it does come down to money, and with shareholders to appease, companies like Cal-Maine Foods are all too happy to make up whatever bullshit they like to justify shaking down an already struggling consumer class for every last cent, right along with their comrades in arms in that crooked industry.
Now I’m no socialist, but the extremes of capitalism are emerging rapidly in this modern era, and I refuse to believe it’s by accident with so many other forces pushing us toward a different societal model. How else will those who have appointed themselves as our betters manage to convince the whole of society that change must come?
Critical theory is creeping into the school curriculum. Kids on college campuses are openly being brainwashed by their Marxist professors. Also, new compliance measures for corporations are being devised daily to make them align with some utopian ideal in order to tilt their practices toward perceived sustainability, which always seems to require considerable concessions on the part of the common people, for some reason.
And that’s the real purpose to all of these strange events we’re seeing in the world today. Control must be handed over to people like those members of the World Economic Forum who want to hold dominion over every aspect of our lives, because it’s in everyone’s best interest, according to them. They seek to be the world’s homeowner’s association Karens in every aspect. Right down to the price of eggs. And naturally they will own the means of production.
They even have their own ideas of how eggs should be produced. Of course, with their propensity for pushing all things that are pro-insect consumption, the WEF advocates for egg-laying chickens to be fed a diet of insects as opposed to other feeds that are often grain-based.
Their reasoning is that it would cut down on the need to use so much land to grow animal feed. And what other recourse would the farmers be left with when the demand for their produce plummets? They would have to sell their land. And we know that WEF alumni like Bill Gates are feverishly trying to buy every bit of farmland that they can.
For context, Bill Gates has already purchased roughly 270,000 acres of farmland. And we know from his investments that he provided venture funding for Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat companies whose products are wildly unpopular. So I guess Gates is trying to hedge his bet by making it impossible for anyone to do any meaningful agriculture with the land in his name.
When there’s nothing else to eat due to the fact that there are no more farmers outside his employ, Gates’ venture capitalism will finally pay off.
You will eat the fake burgers, and you will be happy.
I knew I’d eventually make my way down the “6 degrees of WEF” road. The recent conference in Davos is still fresh in my mind, so let’s blame that.
So do I really think there is some grand conspiracy in our food systems? There has been for a long time.
There was a time in this country where all forms of fat were deemed unhealthy, and that the biggest part of our diet should be rooted in carbohydrate-based foods. The results of that have been massively surging obesity, diabetes and heart disease. This was all paid for by the sugar industry. And there is proof of it.
That must’ve been the inspiration for Pfizer’s business model. Make as much money as you can before the news of how many people you’ve killed with your products finally makes it on the front page.
Additionally, with the Green Agenda that leftists like Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) like to push on those of us just quietly trying to live our lives, seeking to fix problems that don’t really exist while ignoring the ones that do, it’s hard to believe that those who fancy themselves as our betters want anything less than a homogenous nation of dependents who can’t fend for themselves, and are too sick to fight back. But I digress.
Eggs are the perfect food, and keeping your own chickens is pretty easy if you got a yard for them to peck around in. You just feed them food scraps now and then, though they can also feed themselves if given the ground to roam. Chickens eat damn near anything, and they give you food back on a daily basis. I may be oversimplifying it a bit, and I do beg the pardon of any real farmers who happen to read this if that’s the case, but you get the idea I’m trying to convey, I’m sure.
Eggs, as funny as it is to say, are a real threat to globalism. They afford self-reliance on a massive scale with the sheer amount of nutrition they provide in return for the little bit of resources you have to expend on them. With chickens, you don’t have to eat ze bugs, they’ll eat them for you and give you highly nutritious eggs in return.
I’m being slightly obtuse, I know, but it’s hard to believe anything else sometimes when we see unelected people scheming to control every aspect of our lives.
The conspiracy against allowing you to feed yourself through honest means, by the sweat of your own brow, is very real. Dependence is weakness. Self-reliance is strength.
Thanks for writing this.
Here in CA pastured raised egg prices are about the same $8-10 a dozen.
I worked for a usda inspected meat business for decades and saw the various meat scares that came and went. In my opinion they are all either a scam or the result of poor living conditions for the animals.
Usually the scam is the animals are poisoned, usually some type of pest control or intervention that makes them sick (flu detox symptoms), then the government declares them unsafe and they must be killed.
The real solution is small ranching with animals on pasture as close to wild living as possible.
Virus Mania has chapters on this topic.