ARIZONA BUSINESS

Arizona farmer says politicians are exacerbating avian flu, driving up egg prices

Jan 24, 2025, 2:33 PM

PHOENIX — Avian flu is leading to some not-so-eggs-cellent grocery store receipts for families in Arizona and beyond.

Glenn Hickman, the president of Arizona’s Hickman Family Farms, said the recent proliferation of avian flu is choking the nation’s chicken supply and driving up egg prices.

“This outbreak of bird flu started in February 22 in Maryland,” Hickman told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday.

Since then, it’s gone coast to coast and border to border.

“We’ve lost over 100 million birds to this point, and we’ve lost almost 30 million laying hens and pullets just since the first of December,” Hickman said. A pullet is a term that refers to hens that are less than 1 year old.

Domestic flocks aren’t the only victims of the outbreak. Wild bird populations are also coming down with avian flu.

“It’s actually now endemic, and it’s no longer confined to just migratory waterfowl,” Hickman said. “It’s putting a huge constraint on the available supply.”

How is federal government dealing with avian flu?

Politicians play a key role in keeping egg prices high, he added.

“One of the challenges we have is the federal government refuses to believe that it’s airborne, which it is,” Hickman said.

Federal leaders blame producers for not having good enough biosecurity, he added.

“At our farms, we shower every employee and out that accesses the birds and we still become infected,” he said.

He believes that politicians aren’t interested in solutions.

“Our product that is in 99% of all refrigerators has become a token that politicians like to trout out to use for the explanation for inflation,” Hickman said. “It’s somehow a lot more sexy than holding up a cable bill or a receipt from Home Depot.”

For this reason, he’s pessimistic about the possibility of egg prices lowering in the near future.

“There’s actually a vaccine that’s available. It’s manufactured in the U.S., and it’s shipped to Europe,” he said. “If we’re not gonna vaccinate the animals, we’re gonna be forced to vaccinate people.”

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Arizona farmer says politicians are exacerbating avian flu, driving up egg prices