Pay more or face shortage, warn egg farmers

Farmers are calling for a rise in the prices of eggs, saying that the UK could face a shortage if retailers do not start paying more.

Farmers are calling for a 40p increase in the cost of a dozen eggs to meet the rising feeding costs, BBC reported, citing a farmer’s warning that the country is set to have a “desperate egg shortage by Christmas if things don’t change”.

“Our feed has really gone up in price nearly 50 percent, and feed constitutes about 60-70 percent of the egg production costs,” BBC quoted farmer David Sharples, who owns Clyttir Farm in Llanbedr DC, Ruthin, as saying, who further added that the country’s retailers were giving nothing back to farmers, and the only thing they understood would be a “food shortage”.

Wheat, one of the ingredients of chicken feed, has doubled in price owing to the ongoing supply disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict-  the two countries that together produce about 30 percent of the global supply.

The report comes weeks after British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) warned that free range and organic egg farmers are considering a mass exodus after major supermarkets refused to help them cover spiraling feed and energy costs. 

New data shows scores of farms are considering stopping production at the end of their current flock – a decision which could remove hundreds of millions of eggs from retail shelves every year, BFREPA said.

BFREPA surveyed egg producers last week and found that 51 percent of farmers are seriously considering stopping production until the price they are paid improves. A further 18 percent said they will make their decisions at the end of their current flock. More than 70 percent said they would leave egg production within a year if a price rise wasn’t forthcoming.