Wholesale egg prices, as tracked by the Urner Barry Egg Index, have reached record highs at the start of the new year. This surge is mostly driven by the ongoing devastating impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which has crushed commercial flocks and dented the nation's egg-laying capacity. 

Three weeks ago, new data from Expana showed that a dozen eggs at Midwest supermarkets averaged around $5.67, a record high that eclipsed the prior high of $5.46 set in December 2022. 

Expana's managing editor for eggs in the Americas, Karyn Rispoli, told Bloomberg last month that a "potent combination of avian flu-related production losses and heightened retail demand throughout the holiday baking season" catapulted prices to record highs.

Rispoli said 17 million egg-laying hens and younger birds known as pullets had been culled since mid-October amid a surge in bird flu cases, adding that was one of the worst stretches in the current bird flu outbreak since the virus first emerged in the nation's flock in February 2022.

Last week, the USDA released a report showing the nation's egg production totaled 8.92 billion, down 4% from the same period last year. Sliding production has sparked egg shortages at supermarkets in certain regions across the US.

The Google Search trend "egg shortage" has erupted to the highest levels since late 2022. 

In California alone, USDA data showed the price of a dozen large white eggs spiked to as high as $8.97 last week, up from $5.23 in late November - a 70% increase. 

X users are reporting shortages:

The latest wave of egg shortages and soaring retail prices remind consumers about the urgent need to break away from the food supply chain controlled by mega-corporations. Instead, consider building a chicken coop and planting a garden as steps toward becoming ungovernable. 

Besides egg prices, cattle futures in Chicago surged to record highs last week on the continued decline in the nation's herd size.