… Urner Barry, a New Jersey commodity research company. The prices are about 90% higher than April, when the outbreak began in Iowa.
“Iowa is the leading egg producer, and in the course of four weeks, we lost half our industry,” said Dave Rettig, president of Rembrandt Foods, a large egg producer based in Spirit Lake. The company lost about 8 million egg-laying hens to the disease.
Only a handful of the 71 Iowa chicken and turkey farms stricken by bird flu are close to reopening, with many of the remaining facilities facing months before they’re back in business.
Looking ahead to Thanksgiving, experts predict a 10 percent decrease in turkey production.
However, because the United States is exporting fewer turkeys this year, the domestic supply around the holiday should be adequate to keep prices at a normal level, or about $1.05 a pound for a holiday bird.