Last year, the phones were ringing off the hook at Stiebrs Farms, a family-owned egg producer at the foot of Mount Rainier in Yelm, Wash. Avian influenza, or bird flu, was sweeping across the country, slicing deeply into the nation’s egg-laying hen population.
Egg prices surged to record highs of more than $8 a dozen, prices desperate buyers were willing to pay. Since then, wholesale egg prices — prices paid by grocery stores and restaurants — have plunged 93 percent to below 60 cents a dozen. The phones have fallen silent at Stiebrs Farms.
“This is a third-generation farm, and we’d love to see a fourth generation continue with it,” said Sara Stiebrs, who owns the 500,000-hen operation with her husband, Yany. “But how can you be sustainable when prices are below the cost of production.
” Last year’s quandary of not enough eggs has reversed. Egg producers, either hedging against potential losses from another bird flu outbreak or trying to cash in when prices were sky high, added production capacity, significantly increasing the nation’s supply.
“Some of the big commodity egg players, those with the really big productions, way overpopulated the number of hens,” said Tom Flocco, the chief executive of Pete & Gerry’s, which produces premium-priced organic and pasture-raised eggs.
“By our estimate, the industry has a 12 to 15 percent oversupply right now. ” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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