HOST INTRO: If eggs are a regular staple in your grocery shopping you’ve probably been paying attention to prices lately. Costs have increased in the past month due to the outbreak of Bird Flu. which has been hard on consumers. But as Madeleine Reilly reports, those losses have turned egg farmers into consumers too.
REILLY:
Joe Willis owns Willis Poultry Farms in Syracuse. He’s in the egg business. Lately, that’s been tough. Over 20 million birds have been lost to H1N1
WILLIS1: Um, let's say I would lose all my chickens and I, uh, I've got accounts I've had for 40 years, those people would like eggs next, next week.REILLYWillis says he wants to hold on to his customers for later, when his farm has recuperated. Which turns him into a customer.
WILLIS 2:
So I go to the, to the next closest farm and he goes. Joe, terrible luck. Take all the spares I got and I go and I cover my customers.
REILLY:
But, Willis says the chickens that are still producing eggs can’t keep up with the demand.
WILLIS 3:
Well, next week, I go back to my neighbor and he goes, Joe, you took all the spares I've got. I haven't got anything more to give you. So you're going further and further afield to get enough eggs to hold your customers.
REILLY:
Willis even broken eggs are already spoken for. They’re used for products like liquid egg whites. So he says an outbreak like this one can lead to supply problems later on. This means that even when demand catches with supply, there may not be any extra eggs available to meet future needs. Madeleine Reilly, Columbia Radio News.
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