| There's just one little problem with them switching over to 100% cage free eggs right now - supply. And it's actually not a little problem, it's a whopping big problem. There isn't the supply available for even one of those companies to source 100% of their eggs from cage free farms. McDonalds probably goes through millions of eggs/day world wide, same for the other companies, especially if they bake their own breads. How many cage free farms do you think there are? How many eggs do they produce? The answer to both questions is - Not enough, at least right now.
In addition to this, those egg farms are no doubt under contract to a restaurant chain or an integrator that is supplying the chain. If those companies are honestly interested in switching over to cage free eggs as the only type they serve, then their suppliers will have to have time to switch over. This can't be done in an instant. I know if I was an egg farm and I had a contract with one of those large chains, and had just spent $200,000 to build my egg house and they came up to me and demanded that I toss everything and then take out another $200,000 to build a cage free facility I'd be suing someone. It's my understanding that egg farms generally operate under a 1 year contract, so unless the restaurant or it's integrator wanted to put a whole bunch of farms out of business tomorrow and get the crap sued out of them, it's just not possible to switch over in a short period of time. If a really big corporation like McDonalds wanted to serve 100% cage free eggs it would probably take them 5 years to switch, because of production contracts and the simple fact that they'd have to recruit a lot more producers than they have right now. As I'l point out below, you flat out can't get the production per square foot in a cage free environment that you can in a cage layer facility.
And we all will have to accept that the price of an Egg McMuffin or meal at Denny's et al will have to go up to cover the increased costs associated with these different production models. There's a reason why cage free eggs cost more, it's not a yuppie thing, it's a simple fact that those eggs are more labor intensive that a cage facility where everything is automated. There is more labor involved, and there are more losses associated with hens eating eggs, breaking eggs, larger facilities to house the hens, bedding for the hens, cleaning the houses, dealing with the old spent litter, etc. I'll bet that if you look at the stocking rate in a cage facility, where the birds are kept in cages stacked 5 high, you're not going to get that many birds in a cage free building with the same square footage. So all of these factors contribute to increased cost of production, that if not passed on to the consumer, will bankrupt the farm. This is why I was somewhat dismayed by the passage of Prop 2 in California. Go to your local store and look at the price of the regular eggs, and the cage free eggs. The cage free eggs are usually substantially higher in price than the cage produced eggs. I wonder how many of the people who voted in favor of Prop 2 still buy the less expensive cage produced eggs and will expect the cage free eggs to be sold for the same price at the store after Prop 2 is implemented. Probably quite a few, not because they're cruel or hypocritical, but simply because they don't know about the production systems, or what it costs to keep chickens in one system vs the other.
As I've said so many times before, if a market is provided for products like eggs produced in environments like cage free or even pastured farms, then the farms will alter their production methods to serve those new markets. But the markets and the production infrastructure have to grow both at the same time. For this switch to occur and be sustainable, the market, in this case the large chains contracting for egg production, really needs to lead supply, and consumer preference needs to lead the market. As much as we would like to switch everyone over all at once, it's just not possible, neither economically nor physically. And for as much as we can do with letter writing campaigns, the person who has the most impact is the person who is actually buying the egg McMuffin - or in my case the sausage McMuffin with egg. In addition to letter writing, those of us who are actually buying products from those chains that have or are in the process of switching over to sourcing eggs and egg products from hens kept in more humane environments, need to reinforce that sourcing behavior on the part of the chain. When you see one of these chains switch to a source that is more humane, write 'em a letter thanking them and letting them know that you'd like to see more of this type of behavior on their part and you're encouraged to purchase more of their products because of that behavior. With regard to McDonalds, let them know that you're sad to see that they will be studying the issues around cage production vs cage free for two years instead of actually sourcing from those cage free farms, and that you will be purchasing products from their competition who already are sourcing their eggs from cage free farms, and that you'll be patronizing their competition specifically because of the cage free eggs. That'll get their attention faster than anything. Especially if a lot of people write letters like that.
An informed consumer, and one who is interested in leading the middleman in the market - the fast food chains, sit down restaurants, grocery stores, etc. - and who understands that the products he/she buys that are sourced from more humane farms cost more and who is willing to pay a bit more for those products, is the ultimate determinating factor in the switch from one agricultural system to another.
It's going to take time to make the switch, how ever far that switch goes. We, the consumers, are the only ones who can drive that switch to different agriculture production models, and the best, most sustainable way we can do that is to vote with our dollars, pay a bit more for what we buy, and support those farming practices we want to see expanded, be they more humane animal husbandry practices, local/small scale farms, organics, etc. |
