CHICAGO — Eggs are about to get more expensive as California moves to make sure hen houses are roomy enough to allow the birds to lie down, stand up, extend their wings and move around.
Farmers nationwide who want to continue selling to the most populous US state are moving to comply with a new law, taking effect next month, that requires the larger cages. They must either build more hen houses or house fewer birds in the ones they have, raising their costs.
Wholesale egg prices already average a record $2.27 a dozen nationally, up 34 percent from a year earlier. With the new law, the price Californians pay may jump as much as 20 percent for shell eggs in three to six months, according to Dermot Hayes, an agribusiness professor at Iowa State University in Ames. The rest of the country will probably follow suit, he said.
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