Bird flu boosts demand for local, organic eggs

As egg prices stay high, Adirondack small farms are better able to compete

By Holly Riddle

Last month, the Associated Press reported that the average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs hit an all-time recorded high in January, at $4.95. The North Country is hardly immune to the trend. Today, prices at chain grocery stores around the region easily surpass $6, putting them on par with local, organic options.

Attracting new customers

At Lake Placid’s Green Goddess Natural Market, owner Tammy Loewy sources the majority of the store’s eggs from Latremore Pine Ridge Farm in Chazy, while also working with a handful of smaller area farms. Egg prices at the store have gone up slightly, from $6.50 a dozen to $7, and demand has seen a similar uptick. However, the big difference that Loewy said she’s seen recently is in new customers. She describes them as “excited and relieved” to find local, organic eggs at a comparable price point to what they’d get in a major chain.  

At ADK Food Hub in Tupper Lake, owner Cherie Whitten said much the same, with customers finding the food market and eatery for the first time due to shortages at their normal grocery store. ADK Food Hub sources all organic eggs from three local farms and currently sells a dozen eggs for $6, with plans to increase that price to $8. Limits on the number of eggs a customer can purchase at once are also a future possibility. 

Benefits of buying local

Whitten specifies the many benefits of buying from local egg farmers, specifically acknowledging the healthier flocks that can better withstand illness, and the higher levels of nutrients per egg. 

A large degree of flock health is chalked up to a flock’s living conditions. Tim and Sue McGarry of Boquet Valley Farm & Apiary have kept chickens for more than two decades, getting their start initially as hobbyists. Tim, with his background in agronomy, was fueled by his knowledge of commercial chicken farming methods. 

While the McGarrys do see bird flu as a potential threat, particularly as it spreads through migratory birds that may pass through the Adirondacks, they’re not planning to change the way they keep their chickens, such as by restricting their exposure to the outdoors. 

“The health of our flock is really important,” said Sue McGarry. “Our birds have access to the outside from early in the morning until it’s dark at night. The only time they don’t come out is if there’s a snowstorm…I think that’s really important. Having them inside is just not a really healthy situation. We also feed our birds organically.”

Maintaining prices

At Blue Pepper Farm in Jay, Tyler Eaton’s 150-strong flock spends eight months out of the year foraging daily around the farm’s sheep pastures. He said the flock is currently healthy, and the farm is seeing increased egg demand. 

“Our price has been $7 for two to three years now. We have not changed prices due to market impacts from bird flu but we have seen increased sales. Eggs are getting emptied out at [the Sugar House Creamery farm store] and we have no extra to go to Valley Grocery as we usually do all winter,” he said. “We’ve had a few people suggest we should charge more, but we try not to be part of the big ag world, and if our grain prices and labor stays similar, we’ll leave our price where it is.” 

The McGarrys similarly said that they’d seen a “dramatic” increase in demand for eggs, but that they had not increased their prices and saw no reason to do so unless the price of grain increases. 

A new moment for local food?

Despite the challenges that have arisen from the spread of bird flu and higher egg prices, Whitten said she hopes recent events will encourage local shoppers to continue supporting area farmers and egg producers, paying them their sometimes-higher prices in exchange for a higher quality product and a more resilient local food system. 

Tim McGarry echoed this sentiment saying, “I wish there were more small-scale producers. I think that’s the best way around a lot of the problems you see today. If anyone has access to a small producer, support them, instead of supporting a big chain. Seek out the small backyard producers, develop a relationship with them and support them for what they’re doing. Most likely, a lot of them aren’t doing it for the money, but because they absolutely love what they’re doing.”