Your Expensive Eggs Are Making Someone Very Rich (Not Farmers)

You know something's fishy when a dozen eggs cost more than a pound of bacon. I've spent 20 years with my hands in chicken nests, and what's happening now looks like more than just market forces at work.

From where I stand in my muddy boots, these numbers tell a story worth sharing: Egg production fell just 3-5% from pre-avian flu levels, yet we're all paying 53% more, and Cal-Maine Foods (America's biggest egg company) has watched their profits climb from $2 million to $750 million in two years.

Production barely dips. Prices skyrocket. Profits explode 375x.

I'm no economist, but I know when something smells off.

The reality? This doesn't appear to be just about sick chickens — it seems to be about sick profits. After past avian flu outbreaks, producers typically rebuilt their flocks quickly. This time? The process has been notably slower. An industry economist even made a telling comment: "More hens, less income!"

Welcome to modern agriculture's dirty secret: Big Ag has figured out that creating an egg shortage makes them richer than solving one. And this isn't the first time—Cal-Maine previously lost a jury trial for price-fixing, with the jury finding that major producers like Cal-Maine Foods and Rose Acre Farms had deliberately conspired to squeeze the domestic egg supply and inflate prices for years. The verdict seems clear: these shortages aren't accidents—they're by design.

And it gets worse. Cal-Maine's contract farmers receive a mere $0.26 per dozen eggs out of the $10 you might pay at the store. These farmers have received only a 1.25 cent raise in over a decade while being on duty 24/7/365. As one Cal-Maine contract farmer bluntly stated: "You're getting screwed, and guess what—so's the farmer."

Where are our watchdogs? The FTC and DOJ have the teeth to tear into price gouging, but they're playing dead while we get fleeced. Previous generations broke up Standard Oil with the same antitrust laws gathering dust today. Back then, monopolies feared the government. Now? They fund its campaigns while picking our pockets in broad daylight.

Shouldn't our elected officials be addressing this monopolistic behavior instead of cutting programs that directly support the development of an alternative food system? The USDA just announced they're slashing $1 billion in funding that helped schools and food banks buy directly from local farms and ranchers. These programs bypassed corporate middlemen and supported the exact kind of resilient local food networks we desperately need.

This spring, our schooners will house the chickens we raise on our small farm. Each day, our farmers move them down the pasture to fresh dirt, grass, and ample space to run and play. This hands-on approach fosters a robust immune system for each bird and ensures every chicken enjoys a healthy, happy life.

Make no mistake: this egg racket is just one tentacle of the corporate monster suffocating our entire economy. From baby formula to cancer drugs to beef, shortages and supply shocks in concentrated industries are now as routine as a rooster's dawn chorus. About as predictable, too, but a whole lot less pleasant to wake up to.

Here in the Arkansas Ozarks, we're watching this corporate shell game with equal parts fury and determination. When massive consolidation makes our food system this fragile, we're all at risk — as vulnerable as a free-range hen in coyote country.

The antidote? Buy from small, pasture-based farms (ours or your local producers), and let's build a system that CAN'T be manipulated this way. When you do this you're investing in:

• Small-scale farms where the entire food supply doesn't collapse from a single disease outbreak

• Farms where sun and space create natural immunity

• Local food networks that corporate boardrooms can't control

On our small-scale farms, our farmers gently move our pasture-raised chickens in their 20' x 40' schooners to fresh grass, dirt, and pasture each day. This ensures they get ample exercise, fresh air, and sunlight while keeping them protected from predators and harsh weather conditions.

This isn't just about getting a fair deal on eggs. It's about whether we continue to hand the keys to our food supply over to corporations who've proven they'll squeeze us dry at the first opportunity.

Chickens should scratch in the dirt. Food shouldn't make shareholders rich at your expense. Some things really are that simple.

Your farmer (with dirty boots and fire in his belly),

Cody