Egg prices hit peak

The price of eggs may still be a bit much for Americans to swallow, but local egg producers Jason and Tracy Ramsdell of Dakota Layers say costs will likely come down soon.
The ongoing bird flu outbreak has been the primary driver of both high costs and limited product availability. When detected on a farm, entire flocks are culled to limit the spread, with nearly 158 million birds slaughtered since the outbreak began.
Last week alone, Jason said, 1.6 million pullets were culled.
Dakota Layers partner, Rosemary Farm in California, was hit by the bird flu this past fall. Other farms across the state and region have also had to cull entire bird populations. Ramsdell said its tough right now to find baby chicks to repopulate flocks.
But the industry is working to recover.
Easter may be a caveat, with prices temporarily rising again due to supply and demandmany grocers continue to impose limits on how many eggs shoppers can buy.
This latest surge in egg prices has been the biggest since 2015 and accounted for two-thirds of last months increase in food costs, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
In the meantime, the federal government has allocated $1 billion to a five-pronged plan to combat avian flu. Included in that plan are increased biosecurity measures to help reduce interactions between domestic flocks and wild birds, funding for farmers to quickly repopulate after culling infected flocks, the removal of some regulations, the ability to import eggs from other countries, and additional research to develop a vaccine.
Finding a vaccine, Ramsdell said, is of utmost importance, and $100 million of the new plan is dedicated solely to vaccine development. Vaccines are currently used in countries like France, Italy, and Mexico with great success, but remain unavailable in the U.S. due to restrictions on use in certain bird markets.
Its proven that 98% of birds survive if vaccinated, Ramsdell said.
Also being studied is the viruss transition into humans and other animals. The CDC reports 67 human cases in the U.S. since the flu was first detected in humans in 2024. SDSU Extension also recently reported an increased number of cats and other mammals, such as raccoons and skunks, dying from H5N1 likely after coming into contact with infected birds.
More cases are also being reported in cattle populations.