Costly “cage-free” state laws are not Trump’s fault.
The idea of delighted chickens clucking freely in verdant pastures and picking at grubs may appeal to American consumers and food rights activists. However, suggesting that the “cage-free” label liberates egg layers from industrial confinement is a marketing illusion. Birds are provided a little more space, but the health benefits for poultry are unproven, while consumer costs are unquestionably pushed substantially higher.
Animal Rights Eggheads?
The trendy blame-shifting to Donald Trump for all things unpleasant obscures the reality that no president can dictate grocery store prices (despite Kamala Harris’ pledge to do precisely that). Meanwhile, animal rights fantasists have implemented feel-good policies in numerous states that compound the impacts of bird flu on egg costs.
Bird flu is not the sole culprit in the rise of prices. Laying hens can be and are routinely replaced with young stock in response to flu culling, as has occurred in previous outbreaks in which tens of millions of chickens were slaughtered to eradicate the disease. What have changed in the egg market in recent years are the state laws that dictate higher costs to producers by mandating bird housing for layer hens.
Reason recently observed:
“Most stories on soaring egg prices have concentrated on the spread of the bird flu since 2022 and whether any president can influence the price of eggs. Largely overlooked is the impact government regulations are having on the current price spike — namely, state-based ‘cage-free’ laws that ban the sale of any eggs within state boundaries that are not laid by cage-free hens.
“Since 2018, California, Massachusetts, and close to a dozen other states have adopted cage-free laws. Banning caged eggs is a classic example of a supposedly altruistic government policy resulting in detrimental unintended consequences.”
US Egg Production Facts
United Egg Producers reports that the United States harvested 92.6 billion table eggs in 2022 from 308 million chickens, with a daily rate of 82 eggs per 100 birds. That’s an average of 300 eggs per laying hen, annually. This is a dramatic increase in efficiency since 2002 when the average hen laid a mere 264 eggs per year. United Egg Producers attributes this to “improved health and disease prevention, nutrition, genetics, and flock management.” It does not appear that tight cages have been killing layer hens – though they certainly have impacted the affordability for one of America’s favorite foods.
This is not to dismiss the problems of cramped, inhumane, or unsanitary animal housing conditions, which are likely a contributing cause to the spread of rampant bird flu in large operations and to mortality rates that are higher than in smaller, truly “pastured poultry” businesses. The point is that non-farmer activists who push the creation of state laws to improve the lives of animals punish consumers with higher egg prices. Blaming Trump for it is just playing Chicken Little and citing the wrong cause for the inflationary sky falling.
Colorado implemented a state “cage-free” mandate effective January 1, 2025, which imposed a $1,000 fine on violators while currently permitting producers to self-regulate simply by filing a form declaring their chickens are cage-free. The Colorado Department of Agriculture announced that “all eggs and egg products for sale in Colorado will need to show they are compliant by including ‘CO-COM,’ ‘organic,’ or ‘cage-free’ on their label.”
Regulatory Inflation Uncaged
This pushes up costs both for Colorado egg producers and out-of-state businesses whose profit margins are scrambled by a multitude of labeling and other compliance costs if they are to do feel-good business in Colorado. The state’s laws do not mandate organic grain or prohibit antibiotics in birds – cage-free requires only that the birds have a square foot of space apiece, leaving many other animal welfare and nutrition quality issues unaddressed.
California similarly affected national industry policies and fueled price increases for pork through Proposition 12, imposing space requirements for pigs in the name of animal welfare. This raises intriguing federal questions about the power of individual states to legislate for the nation. Such a confusing regulatory morass may ultimately destroy profitability and undermine the free interstate markets that the federal constitution was designed to ensure. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins recently indicated she might pursue legal action under “dormant commerce clause” grounds – the federal government is granted authority under the US Constitution to regulate interstate commerce, excluding state-by-state control.
Meanwhile, political agitation over sky-high egg prices might be more “equitably” directed at animal rights activists seeking chicken utopia rather than Trump, who has been scapegoated unfairly for inflating grocery prices seeded significantly by left-wing policies beyond presidential control. Consumers should keep their eyes on the right birdie.
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