DENVER — Food company commitments recently pushed cage-free egg production to new heights, but U.S. egg markets are returning to more normal production growth, producer profitability and specialty egg premiums, according to a new report from CoBank's Knowledge Exchange Division.
"The avian flu outbreak in 2015 caused egg prices to climb and incentivized egg producers to boost output. Coincidentally, 229 major food companies pledged to use cage-free eggs by 2025 just as egg prices went into freefall," said Trevor Amen, CoBank animal protein economist. "Since then, cage-free production has surged amidst a surplus of inexpensive, conventionally. . .