The United States has few dishes more iconic than bacon-and-egg breakfasts.
This classic dish is now being threatened by disease and inflation.
In a recent infectious disease analysis, I touched upon the shocking avian flu crisis. This poultry pandemic is killing off America’s breakfast egg supply.
Production of eggs in the US plummeted in April as millions of hens were killed during one of the worst-ever outbreaks of avian influenza, signaling that retail egg prices will stay high after a surge of about 40% this year.Table egg production declined 3.9% to 7.55 billion, while the number of egg-laying birds fell 5.3% from a year ago, a US Department of Agriculture report showed Friday. Both are the lowest levels since 2015, the last time the poultry industry was hit with a major bird flu outbreak.
Inflation makes it harder for Americans to obtain bacon to go with their eggs. Tommy Porter, who runs a livestock and cattle farm in Mount Pleasant, N.C., recently explained the costs of farm operations (which are directly tied to Biden’s lack-of-energy policies).
I guess the No. 1 factor would be fuel. Fuel touches everything we do, not only the tractors, the equipment that we run on the farm. And we burn more fuel this time of year than we do most any other time. But everything we get – fertilizer, chemicals, seed – everything is as much as two to four times what it was a year ago. So those prices are just hitting us really hard, and we’re not able to pass our cost on. Farmers are price takers, not price makers.Well, farmers, we – when we sell a product, our commodities, whether it’s livestock or grain or corn or whatever, the price is set by whatever the market is. And just take, for instance, cattle. All of our input cost to raise these cattle are costing us anywhere from two to three times more than it did a year ago, and the price of cattle is the same thing as it was a year ago.
This might explain why the Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that commercial U.S. red meat production was down 3% from last year.
That was due to slower slaughter rates for cattle and hogs, which canceled out higher average live weights.Beef was reported at 2.327 billion pounds, 1% lower than last year, with a slaughter of 2.183 million head, also 1% lower, and an average live weight of 1,373 pounds, a gain of seven pounds.Pork was pegged at 2.202 billion pounds, a drop of 6%, with a slaughter of 10.081 million head, a decline of 7%, and an average live weight of 293 pounds, three heavier.The year-to-date total for commercial red meat production is 18.517 billion pounds, 2% behind the year ago pace.
As Biden continues to bumble, bacon and eggs may become a luxury meal for most Americans.
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