Egg prices skyrocket in USA, Canada selling them cheap: “I’m with Trump. Let’s bomb Saskatchewan”

Canada is home to many critical resources–petroleum, uranium to list a few. However, it is one staple of the ‘American’ breakfast that some joke could justify an invasion of its northern neighbor: eggs. The pressure to secure a new supply of eggs has only become more pressing after the US Department of Agriculture predicted that egg prices could jump twenty percent in 2025. Already, businesses like Waffle House have announced that they will increase prices on menu items that include eggs, as they do not expect prices to come down in the coming months. Senator Ruben Gallego (AZ-D) noted that it was US companies that developed vaccines to prevent outbreaks of the avian flu but that the failure of businesses to inoculate their hens means that American households must suffer the consequences of a massive outbreak of the virus.

The quest for eggs lies North?

As prices for eggs have skyrocketed in the US, shoppers in Canada have seen much more stable prices. Meanwhile, the growing cases of bird flu within hen houses and slaughterhouses have led prices to increase rapidly in the US.

Across Canada, shoppers were paying less than three Canadian dollars for a dozen eggs. Over the same period, shoppers in the US were paying anywhere between $6.00 and $8.00 on average. Some shoppers have also faced limits on the number of cartons they can purchase, and the overall decrease in supply led the number of eggs consumed to drop five percent compared to levels recorded in mid-January.

The price of eggs was a notable feature of the 2024 election, with many households seeing the sky-high prices as a failure of the Biden administration. With Donald Trump promising lower prices, voters flocked to his cause, excusing the rest of the agenda, which appears to have taken priority over commitments to bring down the price of groceries. The Democrats have not been able to launch an attack on this failure by the Trump administration, but they have made their opposition to his abandonment of these campaign promises clear in a letter to the White House signed by various members of Congress. That’ll show ‘em...

When it comes to Canada, the Trump administration has been extremely confrontational. Threatening to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from the country has led to an increase in anti-American sentiments throughout the 10 provinces and three territories, and the president’s continued commitment to annex Canada as the 51st US state is not helping the country’s diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement on… well, no one is quite sure.

As part of their renewed sense of national pride, late-night host Stephen Colbert called his audience’s attention to posts from Canadians showing off their low egg prices. “The Canadians are yoking it up, posting pictures of their dramatically lower egg prices,” said the host. In response, Colbert joked: “I’m with Trump. Let’s bomb Saskatchewan.”

Read more from AS USA: Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods... Which grocery stores have the cheapest egg prices?

The key to Canada’s success

The key behind Canada’s success in keeping prices highlights exactly why the US has failed to do so.

Though the egg production system in the US is able to produce ‘economies of scale’ by packing in hens, Canada’s regulations do not allow such a model. Instead, ensuring the country has a consistent supply of eggs requires farmers to speak to one another, argues Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University who also currently serves as director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab. In an interview with Global News, Charlebois explained the sharing of information between farmers prevents “outbreaks [...from getting] out of control.” And it isn’t that birds haven’t had to be slaughtered. Around 14.5 million have, but the farmers are able to increase production elsewhere to avoid sudden shocks for consumers at the grocery store.

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