Farmers and industry players are questioning how the powers that be allowed the shortage of eggs to reach this point, as supermarket shelves remain devoid of eggs.
The Government passed legislation in 2012 to implement a 10-year ban on battery eggs; at the time, more than 80% of New Zealand eggs were laid in battery cages. By 2017, when 33% of battery cage farms had converted to colonies, as permitted by the new legislation, Foodstuffs and Woolworths announced that they would only buy free-range or barn-raised eggs beginning in 2025 and 2027, respectively.
According to Michael Brooks, executive director of the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand, about 16 small free-range farmers across the country went out of business last year, largely due to the pandemic, when cafes and farmers’ markets couldn’t get stock — only supermarkets could.
It was ironic that the transition from battery hens went smoothly, but it was the supermarket’s refusal to sell colony eggs that caused pain in the industry, according to Mr Brooks. There are anecdotal rumours that the supermarkets were making more profit margin on free range and barn — so it wasn’t exactly a decision that’d hurt them financially. They say it’s because of consumer demand and welfare. They’ve never claimed welfare before.
Foodstuffs spokeswoman Emma Wooster said the government legislation was a significant change for the egg supply industry, and temporary buying limits were implemented to help with the transition.
All Foodstuffs stores are independently owned and operated, and the majority of their eggs are purchased from local suppliers, so the limits, if any, vary from store to store depending on the egg supply situation in their area of New Zealand. Barn and free-range eggs are still available in grocery stores, and colony eggs will be available until 2027.
According to Mr. Brooks, the combination of the legislation and the announced supermarket ban resulted in a drop of 600,000 to 700,000 laying hens in the commercial flock. Gray Harrison, MPI’s national manager of animal welfare and Nait compliance, stated that over the last 18 months, MPI has been in regular contact with operators and visited farms that need to transition from battery eggs before January 1.
Greenfield’s Free Range owner Jo Greenfield had one questions that why didn’t the government support smaller egg farmers by giving us a grant to get us up and running with all the correct start-up stuff needed to keep Ministry for Primary Industry (MPI) happy?” Why didn’t they announce that there wouldn’t be any eggs for a while until the day the egg layer farms actually closed?
It was known that prohibiting conventional cages, and requiring the industry to move to colony cages, barns or free-range systems would involve an investment for egg producers. The phased transition recognised this and provided producers with time to implement the changes in a way that minimised the impact on their business and any potential cost to consumers.