While egg prices are finally dropping, it's still not a bad idea to raise your own chickens.
Dek Terrel, an economics professor at LSU, says it's basic egg-onomics.
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Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Strain says egg prices rose sharply over the holidays as demand increased. Since then, it has lowered slightly, but not by much.
He says due to inflation, the cost of feed, fertilizer, diesel fuel needed for transporting products, and the cost of keeping chicken coups heated have all driven up the price of eggs, and they will remain high unless conditions improve.
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Egg prices at the grocery store were elevated throughout 2022 due to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among egg-laying hens, said USDA economists. “Lower-than-usual shell egg inventories near the end of the year, combined with increased demand stemming from the holiday baking season, resulted in several successive weeks of record-high egg prices.”
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Mississippi has over 155 positive detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in wild birds from teal, wood ducks, Canada gees, Ross’s geese, snow and blue geese, vultures and bald eagles. Louisiana saw a jump in 40 cases over the past week with the majority of positives in LaSalle Parish in Green-Winged Teal according to figures on the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service
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During the last weeks of 2022, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry transported approximately 400,000 pounds of chicken to food banks throughout the state of Louisiana. The chicken was donated by Foster Farms, which operates in Farmerville, La.
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Louisiana hatcheries set 3.35 million broiler-type eggs during the week ending December 10, 2022, up 1 percent from the comparable week in 2021 but down 5 percent from the previous week.
Hatcheries in the United States weekly program set 240 million eggs in incubators during the week ending December 10, 2022, up slightly from a year ago.
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The August 2022 Price & Production Summary gives prices for cattle, poultry, hogs and dairy.
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Effective September 11, 2022, Foster Farms increased the entry level wage rate for its Farmerville, Louisiana, processing facility TEAM members to $17.30 per hour from the current start rate of $12.70 per hour. Farmerville TEAM Members also qualify for a very comprehensive health care plan, as well as disability and life insurance coverage.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an additional investment of more than $14 million to support agricultural workforce training in historically underserved communities that will increase the resilience of the U.S. meat and poultry processing sector.
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Atlas Holdings has acquired California-based poultry company Foster Farms from entities associated with the Foster family.
Under the new ownership, Foster Farms will continue to operate under the Foster Farms name, while continuing to offer products nationwide. Foster Farms, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, is the nation’s 12th largest broiler producer and 14th largest turkey producer. It operates facilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Alabama and Louisiana. It's headquarters are in Livingston, California.
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American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on USDA’s proposed poultry marketing disclosure requirements and the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
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An outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, seen in parts of the U.S. this year has not been detected here, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said.
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On April 12, American Farm Bureau published an article describing the 2022 high path avian influenza outbreak and spread and compared it to the 2014-15 outbreak. At that time, there had been 158 cases of HPAI in domestic flocks, of which 104 were in commercial flocks.
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The bird flu outbreak is spreading quickly. The US has now lost 17 million commercial birds and 11 million egg-laying birds to the current Avian Influenza outbreak according to Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain.
That’s up from just 1.6 million when WWL checked in with Strain last week about the outbreak. The outbreak has now impacted half of the country according to the Commissioner, and while Louisiana and Arkansas have yet to be hit, our neighbors in Texas have likely cases pending.
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The Louisiana Poultry Industries Educational Foundation, Inc., will be offering scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year on a competitive basis for students demonstrating a sincere interest in the poultry industry.
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