2012: The Egg Bomb

December 30, 2022

By AHNZ

Back in 2012 National 5.0 Primary Industries Minister David Carter set a 10 year egg timer on New Zealand’s least expensive eggs which was more than 80% of the national supply. By the time the Eggpocalypse came due by the end of 2022 Carter had retired from politics, been knighted, and given behind-the-scenes boardroom chairs to preside over.

“An immediate prohibition of battery cages would have an unacceptable impact on egg prices, industry structure and the stability of egg supply,” Carter said at the time. The reply from Producers Federation chairman Michael Guthrie was that “This will have an enormous, possibly even crippling impact on many in the industry.” Ref. New battery hen cages banned, APNZ, NZ Herald (2012)

We will shortly eggxamine who was right and who was politician.

Meanwhile, Labour and Green parties signaled their intent to scrap colony cages which were to be the new normal for chook welfare. The new more habitat-enriched environments for chickens were still not good enough for the Left. Or, so they told their voters when seeking election. After Labour 6.0 came to power, joined by the Greens, they did nothing about this.

SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation, est. 1972¹) spokeswoman Jessica Chambers pushed even harder pointing out that domesticated chickens were unable to exercise “natural behavior.” SAFE points out that normal hens would lay 12-24 eggs a year and that, ideally, our hen stock should be de-domesticated. By the same logic, I guess, Chambers wants your banana to have big black seeds again, broccoli and cauliflower reverted back to mustard, and your labrador turned back into a dire wolf.

“But the tragedy is that, on the contrary, we are already suffering the long-run consequences of the policies of the remote or recent past. Today is already the tomorrow which the bad economist yesterday urged us to ignore. The long-run consequences of some economic 4 Economics in One Lesson policies may become evident in a few months. Others may not become evident for several years. Still others may not become evident for decades. But in every case those long-run consequences are contained in the policy as surely as the hen was in the egg, the flower in the seed.” – Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt (1946)

“In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be breeding hens that lay so many eggs and consuming them – we would just let them live their normal natural life,” Chambers said. “Egg-laying hens have been bred to lay an egg every day, whereas a normal hen would lay maybe two clutches – 12 eggs, maybe 24 eggs max – a year.” – New Zealand bans battery cages for hens – but replacement ‘just as bad’, The Guardian (December 2022)

“Before the 2017 election the Labour and Green parties signalled their intent to scrap colony cages but that was yet to happen… spokesperson for the Green party, Chloe Swarbrick, said the practice of factory farming was inhumane and provided no quality of life for animals.” – ibid

“A ban on battery caged hens, announced back in 2012, comes into effect on Saturday and over the past few years the deadline has caused turmoil in the industry.” – Egg shortage: Supermarket shelves bare as industry deals with supply issues, RNZ (December, 2022)

Obviously the egg is a staple item of New Zealand households as well as essential to food manufacturing and by extension the hospitality industry. The flow-on effect of what the government has done to egg production will hit restaurants and bakeries and supermarkets and everyone who is their customer. In the midst of a growing Cost of Living crisis and growing inflation, and shrinkflation the 2022 Egg Bomb exploding in everyone’s faces is going to hurt. Rather than blame the lobby groups and politicians egging this disaster on, or even mentioning David Carter, the blame goes to the industry for not being able to produce eggs without chickens!

Egg rationing started kicking in from December 2022 and there’s no end in sight because this is not a distribution problem this is a supply problem.

Consumers did not speak with their dollars to tell producers they wanted to buy only the new more expensively produced eggs. If they had, we would not have a shortage. Voters, when polled, told politicians that they wanted better welfare for chickens and so the politicians forced it on the marketplace. Who, when asked, would not say “Yes, I care about chickens. Cluck lives matter?” But when asked to transition to the new style the answer came back “‘Not I,’ said the Kiwi.”

Producers could not and did not respond to public feelings or government rules in transitioning to the New Egg Deal. It would cost them millions therefore they needed it to pay. They needed price signals not virtue signals. Forward orders for the fertilised eggs that make the chicks that make the laying hens stopped in 2022 because farmers knew they couldn’t use them. I assume this is why Heslips Hatcheries Ltd was placed into liquidation in mid-2022 and why MainFeeds mills couldn’t get paid. Ref. Fairlie chicken farm business placed into liquidation, Timaru Herald (May, 2022)

Those who wish to raise chicks for laying hens at home lost their best opportunity to avoid the supermarket armageggon when Heslips toppled. I assume since they lost commercial customers they lost bulk buying power and couldn’t get the eggs imported at all, even for the little guy. Since early 2022 New Zealand has been largely running fumes as the dominoes toppled culminating in the national shortage.

Feed prices have also increased in 2022 due, probably, for the same reason as above. Also, because imported grain cost more in 2022 due to a major supplier, The Ukrane, going to war with Russia.

New Zealanders now have the option of paying the Virtue Signalling premium for their eggs or turning back. Labour 6.0 could have changed the policy at any time as the Egg Bomb ticked away but to have done so wouldn’t have been popular only practical. If Kiwis do accept gourmet eggs as the new normal they are accepting an exacerbated Cost of Living Crisis, a higher CPI, and higher inflation. The luxury of deliberately forcing consumers to pay more at a time of recession tests how much Woke Political Correctness Kiwis have left in the tank before they collectively decide to focus on survival rather than appearances.

Unless there is an egg rebellion to defuse David Carter’s Egg Bomb then New Zealanders will simply substitute away from eggs or pay the higher price. Farmers will then respond by investing in production at the new higher-end market which will raise supply and lower the price. However, this will take weeks or months to reach a new equilibrium position. It’s quite amazing that Statist New Zealand could make such bad provisions for its future when everything was so obvious from the start. That’s what happens in a Control Economy rather than a Free Market.

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1 Or, rebranded at any rate. Ref. Wiki

Image ref. VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox, RNZ (2020)

Image ref. The highly diverse team at SAFE Aotearoa; About Us, safe.org.nz

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