Egg prices are rising once more as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with the high demand of the holiday baking season.
But prices are still far from the recent peak they reached almost two years ago. And the American Egg Board, a trade group, says egg shortages at grocery stores have been isolated and temporary so far.
“Those are being rapidly corrected, sometimes within a day,” said Emily Metz, the Egg Board's president and chief executive officer.
The average price for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities was $3.37 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down slightly from September, and down significantly from January 2023, when the average price soared to $4.82. But it was up 63% from October 2023, when a dozen eggs cost an average of $2.07.
Metz said the egg industry sees its highest demand in November and December.
“You can’t have your holiday baking, your pumpkin pie, your stuffing, without eggs,” she said.
Avian influenza is the main reason for the higher prices. The current bird flu outbreak that began in February 2022 has led to the slaughter of more than 111 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens. Anytime the virus is found, every bird on a farm is killed to limit the spread of the disease.
More than 6 million birds have been slaughtered just this month because of bird flu. They were a relatively small part of the total U.S. egg-laying flock of 377 million chickens. Still, the flock is down about 3% over the past year, contributing to a 4% drop in egg production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The latest wave of bird flu is scrambling supplies of cage-free eggs because California has been among the hardest hit states. California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon all require eggs sold in their states to be cage-free.
“We’re having to move eggs from other areas of the country that are producing cage-free to cover that low supply in those states, because those states only allow for cage-free eggs to be sold,” Metz said.
Cage-free requirements are set to go into effect in Arizona, Colorado and Michigan next year and in Rhode Island and Utah in 2030.
Demand for such specialty eggs may also be contributing to avian flu, which is spread through the droppings of wild birds as they migrate past farms. Allowing chickens to roam more freely puts them at greater risk, said Chad Hart, a professor and agricultural economist at Iowa State University.
“It's really hard to control that interaction between domesticated birds and wild birds,” Hart said. "Some of those vectors have been opened up because we’re asking the egg industry to produce in ways that we didn’t ask them to before.”
Metz said climate change and extreme weather are also blowing some wild birds off course.
“We have birds that have been displaced by hurricanes, by wildfires, and those birds are now circulating in areas that they otherwise might not circulate or at times of the year that they otherwise may not be circulating," she said. "And those are all new variables that our farmers are having to deal with.”
Hart said the egg industry is trying to rebuild the flock, but that also can limit supplies, since farmers have to hold back some eggs to hatch into new chickens.
Still, there is some good news on U.S. poultry farms. The price of chicken feed — which represents 70% of a farmer's costs — has fallen significantly after doubling between 2020 and 2022, Hart said.
Durbin reported from Detroit. Funk reported from Omaha. Vancleave reported from Minneapolis.
FILE - Cartons of eggs are shown for sale, on Jan. 17, 2023, in North Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - A woman buys eggs at a Walmart Superstore in Secaucus, New Jersey, on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, on Monday opened their final holiday season at the White House with the annual turkey pardons and Christmas tree arrival before they hosted “friendsgiving” in New York City for U.S. Coast Guard members and their families.
“Simply put, we owe you. We owe your families,” Biden said at U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York on Staten Island. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The meal was part of the first lady's Joining Forces initiative to support military families. “With all my heart, thank you for your service and your sacrifice," she said before the president spoke.
Both then tied dark aprons with the presidential seal around their dress clothes and joined the chow line, where they served a side dish of roasted Brussels sprouts. Celebrity chef Robert Irvine helped with the menu of turkey, ham, side dishes and desserts.
Earlier at the White House, Biden issued the traditional reprieve to turkeys Peach and Blossom who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota.
He welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he joked about the birds' fates and sounded wistful about the approaching end of his half-century in Washington power circles.
“It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said of his single term as president. The reins of power will transfer on Jan. 20 to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man Biden defeated four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability. Biden is 82.
Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys named for the official flower of his home state of Delaware.
“The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop a table to Biden's right. “Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point.
Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.”
Peach and Blossom came from the farm of John Zimmerman, near the southern Minnesota city of Northfield. Zimmerman, who has raised about 4 million turkeys, is president of the National Turkey Federation, which has gifted Thanksgiving turkeys to U.S. presidents since the Truman administration after World War II. President Harry Truman, however, preferred to eat the birds. Official pardon ceremonies did not become an annual White House tradition until the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
With their presidential reprieve, Peach and Blossom will live out their days at Farmamerica, an agriculture interpretative center near Waseca in southern Minnesota. The center's aim is to promote agriculture and educate future farmers and others about agriculture in America.
The first lady also received the official White House Christmas tree that will be decorated and put on display in the Blue Room. The 18.5 foot (5.64 meter) Fraser fir came from a farm in an area of western North Carolina that recently was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm lost thousands of trees in the storm “but this one remained standing and they named it ‘Tremendous’ for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” Jill Biden said.
Biden began his long goodbye Friday night with a gala in a pavilion erected on the South Lawn for hundreds of friends, supporters, Cabinet secretaries, Democratic donors and long-serving staff members who came to hear from the president and pay tribute, — despite Biden effectively being forced off the Democratic ticket this summer and then watching Vice President Kamala Harris suffer defeat on Nov. 5.
“I’m so proud that we’ve done all of this with a deep belief in the core values of America,” said Biden, sporting a tuxedo for the black-tie event. Setting aside his criticisms of Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy, Biden added his characteristic national cheerleading: “I fully believe that America is better positioned to lead the world today than at any point in my 50 years of public service.”
First lady Jill Biden, right, walks with her grandson Beau Biden after receiving the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First lady Jill Biden, second right, walks with her grandson Beau Biden, right, to receive the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First lady Jill Biden waves as she walks with her grandson Beau Biden after receiving the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The official 2024 White House Christmas Tree arrives on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden, center right, departs with his grandson Beau Biden after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkeys during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden, center right, departs with his grandson Beau Biden after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkeys during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden speaks after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden speaks and pardons the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, as John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation and his son Grant, look on. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Beau Biden, grandson of President Joe Biden, is pictured with the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach and Blossom, after a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden is pictured with John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, from left, and Zimmerman's son Grant, after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey Peach during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden pardons one of the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Beau Biden, left, looks at Peach, the national Thanksgiving turkey who was pardoned by President Joe Biden, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Grant Zimmerman, son of John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, watches at right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden stands with one of the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden, right, stands with John Zimmerman, left, chair of the National Turkey Federation, his son Grant Zimmerman, center, and the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The national Thanksgiving turkeys Peach and Blossom are pictured before a pardoning ceremony with President Joe Biden on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Beau Biden, grandson of President Joe Biden, is pictured with the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach and Blossom, after a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden is pictured after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
