‘No eggs by Christmas’ if government does not intervene, say poultry farmers

There will be ‘no eggs by Christmas’ if the government does not intervene, stated a recent report quoting the warnings of British farmers over possible shortage of eggs in the coming month. 

Avian flu, rising costs and the war in Ukraine have created a “genuine threat” to the egg industry, forcing some farmers to pause production, The Telegraph reported on Monday (7). 

Consumers in Ashford, Kent and Bristol, amongst others, have spotted empty egg shelves in supermarkets. 

“There is grave concern in the industry,” said Ben Pike of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA).   

“There are fewer eggs available this year. I don’t know where retailers will get them from. As for the farmers, it’s upsetting, as the production is now completely out of their control.” 

The association represents about 550 egg businesses, who account for about 70% of the UK’s free range and organic egg production, supplying the country’s largest retailers.

The report added that the cost of buying a flock( 32,000 hens on average) has increased by 15 per cent owing to 50 per cent spike in cost of feed and seven per cent rise in labour costs. 

Pike from the farmers body stated that farmers are pausing production and not restocking flocks amidst these ongoing financial pressures. 

In a recent survey of 157 BFREPA affiliated poultry farmers, 33 per cent have reduced or completely stopped their egg production due to the unsustainable losses. 

The report quoted a Cambridgeshire-based poultry farmer to state that cost of egg production is a genuine threat to the industry and that it is no longer economically viable to farm hens.   

“It’s a genuine threat to the industry. We’ve been warning people for a long time, but people have been expecting cheap food, which just isn’t sustainable. It’s like watching a slow car crash,” Charles Mears, poultry farmer at Wood Farm in Wareseley, Cambridgeshire, told The Telegraph.  

“If the Government does not intervene to support farmers, there will be no eggs by Christmas.”   

In March, the egg industry called on the UK’s big retailers to increase the price of a dozen eggs by 40p to prevent the collapse of hundreds of egg producers.

The BFREPA said the average price of eggs had since increased by about 45p, but only a quarter of that – between 9p and 10p – had been passed on to farmers, which was not enough to cover their higher costs, reports stated.