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I was wondering how I could provide evidence for you other than walking to the grocery and taking a picture, but I found at least one of our local farms that ha

I was wondering how I could provide evidence for you other than walking to the grocery and taking a picture, but I found at least one of our local farms that has their prices online: https://www.maplewindfarm.com/collections/retail-store https://www.maplewindfarm.com/collections/retail-store -- I'd expect it would be quite easy for them to change their prices on their own storefront and in their farmstand, where I often buy their eggs. A dozen large eggs there right now is $7.90, which is right in line with what their costs have been for at least the last year (they are one of the more expensive local brands). Unfortunately I just went to the grocery last night, so I don't have any reason to swing by today, but next time I do I'll try to remember to snap a pic of the egg section to share. I've seen a bunch of posts online from the farms about how they're doing biosafety protocols, keeping groups of chickens isolated from each other, etc. I'm sure that increases their costs somewhat, but whatever they're doing seems to be keeping them insulated from the worst of the flock die offs, and regardless, their prices haven't really changed.

1propionyl 2y ago
To add to this, checking Craigslist... local chicken owners here are selling their extra eggs for about $7-8 a dozen here as well (20m drive from a major US city). Only marginally more expensive than store eggs, but a lot fresher, unwashed (will keep for a long while on the counter), and you can see exactly where (and from whom!) the eggs are coming from.
hwillis 2y ago
Biosafety prevents or delays the farm from being infected. It doesn't lessen the impact once it happens. One bird can infect all the others in hours even when they are in separate buildings just from spreading on clothing. If they are infected they will die. If a small farm gets an infected bird, they can't just raise the prices of their eggs. Those eggs will just disappear from the stores because all the birds are dead. If they are doing rigorous isolation, like hiring totally separate people taking care of completely isolated flocks, that should increase their prices. Farms that are spending more money on isolation and chosing not to increase prices are still at high risk- they just haven't been unlucky yet.
- mplanchard 2y ago
  Well I certainly don't know enough about chicken farming to argue with you about it from any position of authority, and I haven't talked personally to any farmers about it yet. Regardless, we have continued to see the availability of all the usual local eggs with very little fluctuation in price. Perhaps they have all been lucky.
bombcar 2y ago
Anecdotes aren't data, but I'll chime in to agree - the locally sourced eggs have gone up in the last few years, but only from like $4.99 to $5.59. The "generic egg" have gone from $0.25 a dozen during some price war 6-7 years ago to $6.99. That price has caused the local eggs to sell out first where they used to always be available.
- mplanchard 2y ago
  Just to be clear, I never claimed to have data. I said "fresh, local eggs have remained around the same price here," "here" being where I live. The whole discussion is based on that anecdote. GP noted that I made that assertion without evidence, so I was just trying to provide evidence that I wasn't inventing it out of thin air. I suspect that the combination of our and other anecdotes in the thread may suggest though that there is some merit to the hypothesis that small, local farms are more resilient to this kind of mass pandemic, although it may vary from region to region, especially with the number and quality of local farms, which is probably much higher where I live than some other rural states and/or in major metropolitan areas.
- azinman2 2y ago
  I’ve never seen eggs for 0.25/dozen.
somecontext 2y ago
In case anyone was curious, the Internet archive on my parent commenter's link shows large dozen egg prices of: $7.90 March 2024, $7.50 November 2023, $6.50 February 2023.
- mplanchard 2y ago
  Oh good thinking! So in line with the sibling commenter, they’ve gone up some, but not a crazy amount, with most of that increase happening prior to the outbreak. And still cheaper than Vital Farms prices mentioned by others elsewhere in the thread.

1propionyl 2y ago

To add to this, checking Craigslist... local chicken owners here are selling their extra eggs for about $7-8 a dozen here as well (20m drive from a major US city). Only marginally more expensive than store eggs, but a lot fresher, unwashed (will keep for a long while on the counter), and you can see exactly where (and from whom!) the eggs are coming from.

hwillis 2y ago

Biosafety prevents or delays the farm from being infected. It doesn't lessen the impact once it happens. One bird can infect all the others in hours even when they are in separate buildings just from spreading on clothing. If they are infected they will die. If a small farm gets an infected bird, they can't just raise the prices of their eggs. Those eggs will just disappear from the stores because all the birds are dead. If they are doing rigorous isolation, like hiring totally separate people taking care of completely isolated flocks, that should increase their prices. Farms that are spending more money on isolation and chosing not to increase prices are still at high risk- they just haven't been unlucky yet.

mplanchard 2y ago
Well I certainly don't know enough about chicken farming to argue with you about it from any position of authority, and I haven't talked personally to any farmers about it yet. Regardless, we have continued to see the availability of all the usual local eggs with very little fluctuation in price. Perhaps they have all been lucky.

bombcar 2y ago

Anecdotes aren't data, but I'll chime in to agree - the locally sourced eggs have gone up in the last few years, but only from like $4.99 to $5.59. The "generic egg" have gone from $0.25 a dozen during some price war 6-7 years ago to $6.99. That price has caused the local eggs to sell out first where they used to always be available.

mplanchard 2y ago
Just to be clear, I never claimed to have data. I said "fresh, local eggs have remained around the same price here," "here" being where I live. The whole discussion is based on that anecdote. GP noted that I made that assertion without evidence, so I was just trying to provide evidence that I wasn't inventing it out of thin air. I suspect that the combination of our and other anecdotes in the thread may suggest though that there is some merit to the hypothesis that small, local farms are more resilient to this kind of mass pandemic, although it may vary from region to region, especially with the number and quality of local farms, which is probably much higher where I live than some other rural states and/or in major metropolitan areas.
azinman2 2y ago
I’ve never seen eggs for 0.25/dozen.

somecontext 2y ago

In case anyone was curious, the Internet archive on my parent commenter's link shows large dozen egg prices of: $7.90 March 2024, $7.50 November 2023, $6.50 February 2023.

mplanchard 2y ago
Oh good thinking! So in line with the sibling commenter, they’ve gone up some, but not a crazy amount, with most of that increase happening prior to the outbreak. And still cheaper than Vital Farms prices mentioned by others elsewhere in the thread.