Egg prices soar in U.S. What’s keeping Canada’s prices stable?

globalnews.ca:

Egg prices in the United States continue to crack under pressure while in Canada they remain relatively stable — and even late-night TV is taking notice.On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, the host couldn’t resist a jab at the price gap, joking that while Americans face egg rations, Canadians are “yolking it up” with their cheaper cartons.“F— it, I’m with Trump — let’s bomb Saskatchewan,” Colbert joked.But behind the joke is a serious issue driving up costs in the U.S. — a relentless outbreak of bird flu that is devastating poultry farms, forcing farmers to kill millions of chickens and sending egg prices soaring.The average cost of a dozen large eggs was USD$4.15 in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This marks a 37 per cent increase from the previous year. Egg prices could go even higher, with the United States Department of Agriculture predicting costs to rise 20 per cent in 2025.With bird flu also impacting poultry farms here and forcing farmers to cull millions of birds, could Canadian egg prices soon follow suit?Canada’s supply management system — which regulates egg production, imports, and prices — has helped keep egg prices relatively stable, explained Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and a professor at Dalhousie University.“In Canada, we had to slaughter about 14.5 million birds so far.

But because of supply management, farmers talk to each other. So from a biosecurity perspective, I would say that typically we go through this more efficiently because we share information, so outbreaks don’t necessarily get out of control … it’s a huge advantage” he said.The U.S.