‘Then why are retail egg prices so high?’: Farmer shows ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of eggs. There’s just one problem

There’s one thing that’s been on many Americans' minds, and that’s eggflation. The term appeared in a Fast Company article in January 2023 when egg prices suddenly doubled. At the beginning of 2023, eggs were at their highest price, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Even today, egg prices don’t come cheap, with thousands of Americans’ wallets crying at the sight of a carton. 

But, as it turns out, many farmers selling their eggs are barely scraping by, even if egg prices feel like a runaway crime. 

TikTok user Emily Martin broke the news that even in 2024, egg farmers aren’t actually making bank off of their cartons. Martin showed off 421,000 eggs from her farm in a video with over 500,000 views, which led many to believe she was making a pretty penny. 

Commenter @juanromo817 asks Martin, “You are [a] multi millionaire right?” Martin responded, “No… that is not the case. We don’t even make like 2 percent of what they’re selling for right now.” 

With her camera facing a pristine batch of white eggs, she added, “We literally make cents on a dozen.” 

So, wait, why is there an egg shortage if there are so many eggs?

Despite farms like Martin’s having a wealthy supply of eggs each week, there’s still a considerable shortage. Martin explained it best in a video she posted before answering @juanromo817’s TikTok comment. 

“Some people might be wondering why we have an egg shortage when we have all of these eggs. It’s actually because of avian influenza—bird flu.” She continued, “Farms across the U.S. have been affected by this, and once the farm gets it, the rest of the birds all have to be wiped out.” 

The CDC reports that the current bird flu is a low public health risk for people but is widespread among poultry flocks. Since February 2022, there have been sporadic outbreaks of bird flu among commercial poultry populations. As of Feb. 5, 2024, bird flu has affected 709 commercial flocks.

Many of these affected commercial flocks churn out hundreds of thousands of eggs each week. One affected broiler farm in Delaware that owned 125,000 birds faced an outbreak. 

When a farm detects avian flu, they contact the USDA and work with health officials to kill infected flocks. Avian flu can kill millions of birds within days, so farms have to cull their entire flock. 

@_emily_martin__ Replying to @juanromo8717 Eggs are gold right now ???? but unfortunately the farmers don’t see near the profit that you would think from them! #eggs #eggprices #layerfarm #chickenlayerfarm ♬ original sound - Emily | Farm Wife | Mama

If there is a shortage, why can’t farmers like the Martins make money on their eggs? 

Martin mentioned that her family’s farm is under contract, which means the prices of their eggs are fixed. These contracts, which egg producers create with egg suppliers like Sauder’s Eggs, protect egg producers from an unstable market and help boost their relationship with suppliers. 

Suppliers can increase their prices based on the lack of eggs they receive from the producers they work with. Farm producers like the Martin family don’t get to control the prices of eggs in the supermarket, but they don’t have to work with retailers directly, either. 

One TikToker, @Sixwordcustoms, left a comment on Martin’s video, saying, “Cancel the contract, sell directly.” 

@James Gilson 142 added, “Oh you need to renegotiate that contract at the moment.” 

@mister_moo_mu echoed, “So if eggs are sold at a set price, it just means big box stores are raising prices for no reason then.” 

Martin explained in a call with The Daily Dot that contracts have more benefits than negatives as they offer consistent income.

 "Having a contract is so helpful because ... there's a lot of risk to play the open market," Martin explained. "Eggs would all of a sudden take a dive. [If] it was a dollar for a dozen in the store, we would be losing money big time."

The Martin family receives a percentage on each dozen they sell, and the consistency is more beneficial than selling them directly. Despite this, they, like many farmers across the United States, are worried about losing everything due to the avian flu.

" We've had some cases popping up in our state lately. For us, a big concern is just to get it and to lose our flock and then not be able to pay our mortgage," Martin said.

By making TikToks, Martin clears the air about what egg producers can or cannot control.

" As farmers, we don't necessarily do the job to make money. It's a seven-day-a-week job, and there's a lot of work that goes into it," Martin added. "We're just trying to do the best that we can."

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