Australian Politics Forum

Supermarket war not an eggs-act science

The Australian
January 12, 2015

THE supermarket war is hotting up, with eggs the latest weapon in the battle to create differentiation in the minds of shoppers between Coles, Woolworths and Aldi. :-?

As animal-welfare groups put pressure on retailers and fast-food companies to quit selling eggs or using eggs from intensive or “factory” farms, traditional or “caged eggs” are fast disappearing from supermarket shelves. :)

Stuck in between the marketing hype are Australian egg farmers, concerned that consumers are losing out on choice and price options and not being told the full story about the merits of different egg production systems.

Egg producers such as Bede Burke of Tamworth are also worried that sustaining production will be difficult if either legislation or altered consumer demand dictates a wholesale switch to eggs laid by chickens kept only in non-caged environments.

Mr Burke, a cropping and cattle farmer as well as egg producer, has 106,000 hens on his farm in larger-than-average pens, with about six birds to a cage to reduce broodiness. He supplies the market with 30 million eggs a year.

With Woolworths pledging to ban all “caged eggs” from its supermarket shelves by 2017, and Coles already removing eggs laid by caged hens from its own-brand range, Mr Burke had planned to convert half of his egg production to free-range hen systems, but a rare outbreak of avian bird flu in the NSW Young region late in 2013 — in which free-range hens in grazing paddocks caught the disease that is transmissible to humans from migratory birds — changed Mr Burke’s mind.

The company involved, Langfield Pastoral Company — which supplies about 4 per cent of Australia’s eggs — was forced under national emergency and quarantine rules to destroy all 200,000 free-range hens on his property and 250,000 birds kept in cages in neighbouring sheds.

“It was just at the time we looked at going part free-range because of the pressure from the animal liberation movement on consumers and supermarkets, but the frightening thing for me and my wife was that if that happened here on our farm it would close down the whole farm and all our egg operations,” he said yesterday. “As a small family farm, we felt the risk was too great; it wasn’t that we were putting all our eggs in the one basket and going all free-range — but that just too many factors, such as an outbreak of a notifiable disease, became outside our control.”

Mr Burke, chairman of the NSW Farmers Association’s egg committee, believes consumers need to look more closely and understand more about how eggs are produced. For example, hens kept in cages have much lower mortality and disease rates than commercial hens keep in free-range or barn pens, and lay more and cleaner eggs.

“Our biggest challenge is showing consumers that caged systems are not bad, because there is such a strong platform being pushed from the anti-caged-egg people,” he said.

“We know cages are the cheapest form of producing eggs, but we also argue there is no compromise in welfare to achieve that outcome. Science shows that hens in cages that are not overstocked perform well, have lower mortalities, the eggs are cleaner and farmers can manage their diet to prevent hens from going broody much more easily.

“We also know we need to have a social licence to operate — where consumers have faith that farmers are doing the best thing we can in terms of the welfare for the birds — and that is where I think we need to have a bigger discussion about risks, benefits, production and costs.”

Mr Burke makes no secret of his distaste at Woolworths’ decision to ban all eggs laid by caged birds from 2017. He believes this will impose big egg price rises on consumers — 15 per cent to 42 per cent according to recent studies from California, which went all free-range from January 1, force producers out of business who cannot afford to invest in new infrastructure, and affect egg supply because weekly production can vary by up to 30 per cent in the free-range hen business.

In contrast to Woolworths’ “outright” ban and Coles’s own-brand judgment against caged eggs, Aldi last year told the Australian Egg Corporation it wanted to offer customers a full range of egg choices.

“We will continue to provide our customers with all three options (free-range, barn-laid and caged eggs),” an Aldi spokesman told The Australian.

“Aldi sources eggs from small family-run businesses and larger egg producers who have invested hundreds of million dollars in the industry; by offering a range of eggs, consumers can make their purchasing decisions based on value and affordability.”

Quote:

Mr Burke, chairman of the NSW Farmers Association’s egg committee, believes consumers need to look more closely and understand more about how eggs are produced. For example, hens kept in cages have much lower mortality and disease rates than commercial hens keep in free-range or barn pens, and lay more and cleaner eggs.

Quote:

With Woolworths pledging to ban all “caged eggs” from its supermarket shelves by 2017, and Coles already removing eggs laid by caged hens from its own-brand range, Mr Burke had planned to convert half of his egg production to free-range hen systems, but a rare outbreak of avian bird flu in the NSW Young region late in 2013 — in which free-range hens in grazing paddocks caught the disease that is transmissible to humans from migratory birds

It would appear that the 'argument' is not so cut and dry Crook?

Hippy animal-welfare groups will drive up the price, casue unemployment and as mentioned above increase the risk of potential human pandemics breaking out. :(

Yes, let's get rid of battery-laying.

Then the price of eggs will go through the roof, sales will drop, the greedy
will raise prices to compensate, even less eggs will be sold, and producers
will start going to the wall.

Give it 5 years and we'll all be eating imported eggs - from battery-farms.

Getting rid of battery-hens, while an admirable idea, simply isn't practical
or economical.

Battery farming is a disgrace and should be outlawed. Apart from the cruelty inflicted on the hens they are fed arsenic laced additives, antibiotics, stones and granite to harden the shells, colouring additives to make the yolk more yellow and some are even fed ground up dead chickens etc etc etc.

I don't care how cheap they are I would never buy them.

Most people could care less about animal cruelty, if they can save fifty cents they don't care what animal has to suffer, or farmer for that matter. :(

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 12^th, 2015 at 10:03am:

Most people could care less about animal cruelty, if they can save fifty cents they don't care what animal has to suffer, or farmer for that matter. :(

You have pretty well nailed it there innocent.
I have 3 girls muster on my place and all 3 are vegetarians . when you are close to the source of production, it affects you.
your average urban dufus could not giving a rats about the producer or the animal.
one need only look at the $2 milk to see this. sells like hotcakes.
now with the 85 cent bread, i'm sure there will be a whole world of pain in the baking industry but your urban selfish twat will just lap it up as the workers at Tip Top bakeries get solidly shafted.

aquascoot wrote on Jan 12^th, 2015 at 10:47am:

innocentbystander. wrote on Jan 12^th, 2015 at 10:03am:

Most people could care less about animal cruelty, if they can save fifty cents they don't care what animal has to suffer, or farmer for that matter. :(

The price of houses follows a regular doubling period: this is the very definition of exponential growth... i.e. there has got to be negative externalities associated with trying to make this impossibility complex float!

To put it in simpler language: what is a punter to do?

For me the real issue isn't about caged eggs versus free range eggs.

It's about egg producers who claim "free range" status when they are obviously not ... proven to be not ...

& want to charge free range prices.

HANG EM HIGH I SAY.

If caged production is adequately monitored & a reduction of birds per cage is regulated then I won't call for the scrapping of cage egg production.

But if they are dishonest they can get knotted.

Mobile free range sheds can be quite productive without extra costs/maybe less with the product not deserving a higher price tag.

Farmers looking to diversify & have extra space should be able to do this without extensive investment in infrastructure.

It's already being done.

I was at my local Coles yesterday and noticed a dozen cartons of cage eggs marked down to $1.90 each. There were four of us choosing eggs at the time and not one person chose the $1.90 'specials'.