The drop in gasoline prices could not come at a
more opportune time for American families. It puts a little more cash in hand
that can be used to pay for other necessities which haven’t been so kind to
personal finances.
Food inflation has been running roughshod through
consumers’ pocketbooks, achieving unprecedented heights over the past twelve
months. Retail beef and bacon prices are up 14%. Spiral-cut hams, which have
become a holiday tradition, cost 17% more this Christmas than last.
Outcomes of regional droughts in steer country and
an international piglet illness, these prices may correct themselves, but it
won’t be anytime soon. It will take years to get the animal populations back to
levels that can truly satisfy consumer demand.
While this is all occurring, the egg market is
taking on a startling and permanent transformation.
California, our nation’s most populous -- and most
influential -- state, has a new law requiring all eggs sold within the Golden
State’s borders to be produced by hens raised in cages 73% larger than previous
standards. Prior to the launch of the law, a cage could be 67 inches square.
Now, they have to be 116 square inches.
This is the result of a proposition that the Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS) somehow influenced 63% of California’s
voters into approving under the claims that battery cages (as they are known)
are cruel to chickens and increase the prevalence of salmonella poisoning.
This has led to a 23% drop in California’s egg
production in the past two years as many farmers have opted to not make the
investments in equipment, buildings, and real estate to accommodate the new
rules. Those who have stayed in business have made those necessary expenditures
while at the same time cutting back on the size of their flocks.
What does this mean to Californians? Some say it
will mirror what happened in the European Union when a similar law went into
effect in 2012. Prices there rose 41%. As I write this column, it’s not yet
2015 and prices are already up 35% in California, with some consumers in food
deserts seeing an unconscionable 70% increase in retail costs.
What does this mean to other Americans? As
California’s population grows and the demand for eggs follows, egg producers
throughout the US will undoubtedly meet the demand if the price is right for
them to justify the pricey changes in the procedures. Californians already eat
4 billion eggs imported from other states and they represent 12% of the US
population, so what they need and want really drives what happens throughout
the country. That means more farms with larger cages, less chickens and higher
costs nationally, not just at the epicenter of the new standards.
To that end, wholesale prices are up 34%
nationally. And, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the
transformation of the egg industry. It wouldn’t be a stretch to see the federal
government mandate the larger cages; after all, it has always used the
regulations of bureaucratic entities like the California Air Resources Board,
for example, to set the laws for the rest of the land. On top of that, the
Humane Society isn’t fully satisfied with what it wrought and is now trumpeting
216-inch cages or the complete lack thereof with a focus on free range.
This anthropomorphic over-attention for a food
animal’s comfort doesn’t hurt the “evil” egg companies as much as it hurts the
average family. Eggs are a staple of the breakfast table, a formerly
inexpensive healthy high-quality protein. Eggs are also found in virtually
everything we buy at the store, from breads to sweets to noodles. Because of
all of the above, the per capita consumption of eggs is a whopping 259 per
year.
Food inflation, whether caused by natural or
governmental factors, is about the worst thing that could happen to a working-class
family. Everyone needs to eat. It’s not something one can skimp on. There’s a
reason that more than 400 local families line up for boxes of free food every
other Saturday in Medina…it’s a tough world out there. Laws like this, no
matter how well-meaning they may be, only make things tougher.
From the 05 January 2015 Lockport Union Sun and Journal
From the 05 January 2015 Lockport Union Sun and Journal