B.C. egg farmers to be paid less; what does that mean for you?

This July 6, 2016, file photo shows egg cartons displayed on a shelf at a market in San Francisco. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says the food industry is making adjustments to maintain supplies of poultry and eggs in the face of a large outbreak of avian flu in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Jeff Chiu, File Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu

Posted January 13, 2023 7:21 am.

Last Updated January 13, 2023 7:24 am.

First, it was chicken, now eggs, or is it the other way around? Regardless, they’re expensive and CityNews is trying to find out why as your food bill continues going up.

The industry says there are a couple of reasons why you’re paying more right now.

“It is becoming more expensive to farm. Avian influenza is having a huge impact on all poultry in British Columbia. But there are also things like cost of fuel, the cost of feed and energy costs, those are all going up as well and that just increases the cost of eggs,” explains Amanda Brittain with BC Egg.

Brittain stresses they don’t set the price you pay at the store — that falls, ultimately, to the retailer.

And as of Jan. 29th, BC Egg is lowering how much it’s going to pay farmers across the province for what they produce, but there’s no indication you’ll be paying less.

“We set the price that they pay per dozen and then beyond that, you have to add the cost of grading… and then whatever the cost is at the retail store includes that cost,” says Brittain.

We’ve long heard from frustrated and outraged customers in the face of rising food prices in this country and Brittain says farmers are feeling the inflation and cost-of-living pinch as well.

“Farmers are buying their groceries at the store just the same as everybody else, so they’re seeing the same inflationary increases. They’re just dealing with it the same way everyone else is.”

(Courtesy BC Egg)

Brittain says BC Egg’s position is they don’t feel retailers are gouging farmers.

“Grocery stores have additional costs as well. I can’t say what they should or shouldn’t be charging because I don’t know what their costs are. I imagine they’re seeing higher energy costs, for example, just the same as farmers are, so they need to price how they price to ensure they not only supply healthy, fresh food to British Columbians but that they can make a profit doing it too.”

For context, eggs in this province go from the farm to a grading station where they are inspected, washed, sorted, and then trucked to the grocery store. And eggs, based on whether it’s a classic egg, all the way to organic, costs a different amount to farm.

There are 149 egg farmers in B.C. and they’re all family-owned, according to BC Egg.

B.C. also has the highest marker for organic egg production in the country because the market demands it, and some supply is shipped to other provinces as well.

Meanwhile, the BC Chicken Marketing Board, which oversees meat production, doesn’t think retailers are ripping off customers.

“The cost of feed is a significant portion of the cost of chicken production. The farm input price index of commercial feed in B.C. has risen 26% in the past year alone (from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022),” it says in a statement. “In broiler chicken production in B.C., farmers collectively negotiate a minimum live price (also called ‘farm gate price’) with processors every eight weeks. The minimum live price is the amount the farmer receives per live chicken as they leave the farm. The B.C. live price is typically based on the live price in other provinces and the cost of production.”