If you go grocery shopping, you don't need us to tell you that eggs are expensive and in some

places in limited supply. In 2024, the average price of a dozen large grade A eggs jumped 65%

while overall food prices rose just 2.5%. And the Agriculture Department predicts prices

will go up another 20% this year.

A big reason for these sky-high egg prices? The bird flew outbreak that started in 2022.

Since then, efforts to limit the spread of the virus have led to the slaughter of more than 145 million

chickens, turkeys and other birds. The vast majority of them, egg-laying

chickens. Two perspectives on this story. David Anderson is a professor and livestock economist

at Texas A&M University, and Angela Rasmussen is a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

David, let me start with you. Help us by putting these prices,

these high prices into perspective. In the historical context, where do they stand?

Well, these are all-time record high prices. So, you know, in a historical context, we're at the

peak, we're the highest they've ever been. Are there some regions of the country that are harder, the prices are higher than in others?

Well, yeah, there are.

Particularly if we look at the coast, New York and California, we certainly see higher prices there

for the same reason they're always higher in those locations.

One is it's a long way from where we produced

the majority of the eggs in the U.S. to those markets. But, you know, once you get down, if you're

going to deliver to a store in New York City, you know, it's probably a little more costly to get to

those markets. And David, how big a factor is bird flu in this? And are there other factors as well?

That really is the factor.

That really is the factor in these prices.

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