{{ The nation’s biggest egg producer has seen rising revenues and profits. Now some Democrats are calling for an investigation into pricing practices in the industry. }}
Why would Private Equity want to see the Bird Flu cured if it’s goosing profits by 600%?
intercst
If you don’t like the price, don’t buy the things.
Steve
Its a wonderful deal if you have lots of eggs and your competitors don’t. But sounds like it takes years to rebuild your flock once infected.
Vaccinating chickens might be a better solution.
This is Shiny land. Vaccines bad.
Vaccines bad.
bad…Bad…BAD Vaccines BAD!
Steve
Of course we can count on the FDA to be careful especially under RFK. But this is a good example of need especially if the administration wants egg prices to become more reasonable.
Or let evolution take its course. Not all birds die that get the flu. Keep and continue to breed the survivors. They have a better immune system, pass it on to future generations instead of killing the entire flock.
Remember Covid-19? SMiC “let evolution take its course”. What you failed to remember is the fact micro-organisms adapt and evolve far faster than multicellular animals. Chickens may survive–and they may, or may NOT–continue to be chickens. Or they become something inedible by humans due to their evolution to become resistant/immune to bird flu.
Meanwhile, the bird flu virus adapts. It now infects cows and can be then passed on to humans. And it kills felines if ingested by them. Yeah, not quite something you expected. So how did it happen? And why?
For years I have speculated without proof that a time would come in which small local farms would be able to compete with massive corporate farms for any number of reasons - supply chain issues, infrastructure issues, widespread plagues hitting livestock and/or produce, etc.
My idea is that efficiency does not equal resiliency. A more efficient corporate farm system could be crippled or handicapped by any number of factors which spread throughout the system.
A small example of that might be eggs. I have been playing $6 per dozen for Patrick’s gigantic eggs with thick, rich yolks but now they are hard to get because Food Lion large eggs suddenly cost more. Maybe more vibrant local markets need support to make our food chain more resilient if not more efficient.
It is. Too bad they arbitrarily fired the people working on the bird flu vaccine.
Move fast and break stuff is REALLLY NOT a wise management style for government.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/27/trump-fired-bird-flu-hires-00206334
The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu and mitigate skyrocketing egg prices as the outbreak rips through poultry flocks across the United States.
But the measures come as the Agriculture Department is struggling to rehire key employees working on the virus outbreak who were fired as part of the administration’s sweeping purge of government workers. Roughly a quarter of employees in a critical office testing for the disease were cut, as well as scientists and inspectors.
…
“I don’t know if people are going to want to come back,” said one USDA employee granted anonymity to discuss the firings and attempted rehirings without fear of retribution. “Now there’s this perception that federal jobs are not secure. I think they permanently damaged these services.”
…
“Rather than measure twice and cut once, it’s more like everyone is on the chopping block and then, ‘Oh [excrement] we cut the wrong people,’” another USDA employee said.
This level of incompetence is frankly embarrassing.
But wait, it gets worse:
“If … they have projects that are ongoing, all of that work has now essentially been thrown out, discarded and dead in the water,” said Dr. Mary Beth Hall, a retired Dairy Forage researcher. “You’ve got God knows how many millions of dollars of research that’s just been thrown away.”
Absolutely, but then you need consumers with a little extra time and money to put into selective shopping, and willing to do so because they understand something a little bit more complicated than “lower prices”.