Analysis of The Egg Industry to Understand The Causes of The High Prices in Eggs

Understanding the causes of the high prices in eggs is to grasp the rules in farm animal housing restrictions on chickens. People don’t think about how foods are produced, they think that everything is produced naturally. In reality, most animals are mistreated and abused in order to produce food for consumers. Chickens especially are kept in small cages and force-fed to produce ‘fresh’ eggs to markets. According to a 2019 study published by Trey Malone and Jayson L. Lusk, “cage-free production costs 41% more than conventional production in terms of dozen eggs commercialized”.

By pointing this issue, this tells the audience how big of a difference it is to buy eggs that weren’t from a chicken that was harmed. It is clear that cage-free eggs cost more due to the time and being able to feed them good food. Furthermore, because cage-free eggs are overpriced, this leads to people with low incomes to buy more of the eggs from chickens that lived in enclosed barns. This implies how not only does it affect the production and the price, but also to underprivileged individuals. Ultimately, depending on the methods used, Californians are paying more than they should for a dozen eggs. Once people understand the causes and effects of the rising prices of eggs, they should know how the ridiculous prices are resulting in more food demands in families and not being able to afford high-quality foods.

The difference between the prices of eggs has to do with how the chickens were raised. Some eggs are cage-free, organic, non-organic, etc. With all the variety of eggs, there are also variations of raising chickens and producing eggs. In order to produce these eggs, farmers or industries put chickens in specific living measures that can be harmful during the process. The production of the eggs implemented the AW laws which mean the ban of sales of eggs in California that are produced under the conditions that do not follow under Preposition 2. For example, the California egg industry “suffered from a Newcastle outbreak in 2002-2003 that killed over 3 million egg-laying hens”.

This shows the audience how gruesome chickens are being handled to produce eggs. Chickens are going to be endangered soon because people are killing them to sell to markets and people. There are regulations behind raising chickens that affects the cost of eggs, like departing from housing standards. Farmers and corporations use major investments in raising their chickens such as facilities and equipment to put them in markets and to feed the consumer as fast as possible. This could also mean that reducing the flock size is necessary to slow down production if not a lot of eggs are needed. The raise of cost determines how much feed, space, labor costs, and how it’s raised. Different factors take part in the cost of the eggs. Therefore, negative impacts on production to operate is essential and inevitable.

The main cause of the rise in prices of eggs is the living conditions of the hens that determine the range of costs that are given to the consumers to pay for a dozen eggs. People don’t notice the price difference between different types of eggs. People assume that whatever egg they buy is good quality and doesn’t take into consideration of the hens that laid the eggs. The scenes behind producing thousands of eggs are not shown to the public so that they are not able to see what they are getting. For example, evidence suggests that “non-cage systems incur costs of production that are at least 20 percent higher than the common cage housing systems”, this indicates that the factors that play into the raising of the chickens have to do with the price. Chickens that are cage-free costs more since they are the ones that need more caring and good-natured. Cage-free chickens need more sources to give consumers better and healthier eggs.

On the other hand, chickens that live in caged surroundings are cheaper than cage-free eggs. The reason being is that they have the worst environments and not a lot of thought is given to them. They are given scraps and are either there to die in these conditions or left alive to produce eggs. Looking at such data from articles shows how limited the production, prices, and marketing goes into these systems of producing eggs.

The cost of eggs negatively determines the performance and the quality that is given to consumers. Since cage-free eggs are expensive this leads to people buying from less organic eggs. Since no one buys the more expensive eggs, eggs go to waste and causes a high surplus sale. Low-income families are then to buy eggs that are cheaper since they can not afford the better option. For instance, a study shows that “inadequate access to healthy foods has been identified as a significant barrier to healthful dietary behaviors among individuals” who live in low-income communities. This demonstrates how underprivileged consumers are unable to buy products that are nutritious or beneficial to their health. Not a lot of low-income consumers have a lot of options to choose from. This impacts the consumer’s welfare formula which annually loses around 100 million dollars for California consumers.

The cost of an egg is a dominating factor that is affecting food-purchasing decisions, but also the location is another reason why people are unable to purchase high-quality food. Certain industries or farmers only ship their best produce to supermarkets that are mostly filled by people. For this reason, the expense of eggs determines the value and standard that are important influences on food purchasing.

In conclusion, the cost for eggs is caused by the living conditions of the chickens which result in the condition and the hardships for low-income families. The research shows that determining the lifestyle of the chicken the prices of the egg may vary from costing more than three dollars or less than a dollar. Research proclaims that there are potential effects of the AW laws and similar legislation. The results show the drastic impact of regulations for improved animal housing. The large decrease in “egg production and the number of hens may be indicative of an exodus California producers from the egg industry in the face of potential losses”. This means that the mass departure of people from markets is affecting the sales of eggs.

Since people are not buying a lot of the eggs, they go to waste and bring in new batches of eggs. This then causes farmers to kill more hens to produce more eggs or hens will take time laying the egg. This cycle then repeats itself which results in more eggs and hens to be discarded. This information is important to the audience because they are the ones that are purchasing the food items. They should care about how the animals are being treated that are providing us with nourishment. With this information, the audience should help end caged animals in farms or factories that turn them into food. They should be worried and sympathetic toward the animals and help raise the concern of the unfair rising prices of eggs. For this purpose, the cost of egg produce causes price differentiation which alters the price for the same product and charges differently depending on the person.