Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How California Voters Raised the Price of Eggs Across America
Frontpage Mag ^ | 03/08/2014 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 03/08/2014 11:22:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind

In 2008, California voters endorsed Proposition 2 which banned the confinement of animals. California egg producers had to ensure that chickens had enough room to move around which negated so-called “factory farming” and would end up raising the price of eggs by 20%.

Obviously this was a problem for California agriculture which would have trouble competing on price with free agriculture. And there’s only so much of a market for fair-trade free-range organic chickens lovingly raised in a Quaker school by social justice experts on a strict diet of granola and NPR broadcasts.

And so California’s reds decided to instead raise the price of eggs across America. Sounds fair, right?

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster (D) said Tuesday morning he has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of California over the Golden State’s new regulations on enclosures that house egg-laying hens. The regulations, Koster alleges, violate the constitution’s Commerce Clause.

California voters in 2008 passed a ballot initiative that require larger enclosures for egg-laying hens. Farmers in California worried the new rules, which would increase their costs, would put them at a competitive disadvantage with egg farms in other states, so the state legislature passed a measure in 2010 to require out-of-state producers to comply with California rules.

That, Koster says, is unfair to his state’s egg producers.

“If California legislators are permitted to mandate the size of chicken coops on Missouri farms, they may just as easily demand that Missouri soybeans be harvested by hand or that Missouri corn be transported by solar-powered trucks,” Koster said in a statement.

California farmers must begin complying with the cage law beginning in 2015, under the terms of Proposition 2. The legislature requires out-of-state farmers to begin complying with the same rules by the end of that year.

Koster’s office estimated that Missouri egg producers would have to pay $120 million to expand the size of their coops, and that production costs would rise 20 percent.”

That’s the whole point. The left can’t compete on product or price, but it can kneecap everyone else as long as it has control over populous states. Businesses and individuals can flee California, but they can’t escape its regulatory creep.

The country is awash in ballot initiatives and legislative efforts to increase regulation of agriculture. Maine and Connecticut have passed GMO labeling laws, although they won’t go into effect until other states in the Northeast have passed labeling laws as well. Florida has laws outlawing the most common method of pork production. Several states have outlawed small chicken coops, and states have also banned the sale of foie gras and shark fins. Only California has had the chutzpah to impose the preferences of that state’s voters on the rest of the country.

Make no mistake about it, if egg prices increase by 20 percent, people who face tight budgets at the grocery store will suffer.

But the people who make these laws won’t and California voters have become mindless stooges of the left. And if you buy your eggs with EBT cards, you don’t tend to care how much they cost because you aren’t paying for them anyway.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Florida; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: califronia; egg; florida; food; foodsupply; inflation; missouri
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261-275 next last
To: fortheDeclaration

I was hoping to give a more broad answer, but since you are wanting to do this piecemeal, OK.

As a former hog producer I am going to answer your question specific to hog production as regards the room allowed animals .

When the talk is ‘animals quality of life’ you probably are thinking only of the sow (mother pig), and not the baby pig. Baby pigs get laid on, stepped on, crushed, injured, smothered and otherwise hurt when a sow is given too much room to move around, especially during and immediately following farrowing (giving birth). The newborn pig also has an easier time finding the udder when the sow is resting comfortably in the same location, and thus a much better chance of living.

There’s much more, let me know.


241 posted on 03/10/2014 8:56:44 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 231 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear
So this poster has no problem with the price of eggs going up because it does not affect him.

The poster said the cost of eggs going up didn't affect him. You conclude that it means he has no problem with the price of eggs going up. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But those are two completely different things. You don't have enough information to reach a conclusion. Why not ask that poster?

This person is also happy to pay more and also wants all chickens raised to whatever standards he dreams up and if it means more expensive eggs what the hay.

The poster said conservatives don't go in for animal abuse, and the idea of treating chickens that way sickens them. It sickens me too. You conclude that means the poster (and by extension me) favors using the heavy hand of government to regulate how all chickens are raised. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. You don't have enough information to reach a conclusion. Why not ask that poster? I don't favor that, and I never said I did. You simply assumed.

You agree with poster that more expensive eggs are the bomb and if more expensive eggs are the price of keeping little chickens happy that is fine.

You seem like you have a chip on your shoulder. I agree that farm-raised eggs are the bomb. I find it hard to believe you've tried them and disagree. I happen to pay $5 per dozen for them. You seriously don't think I would say no to them if they were cheaper, do you? No where have I insinuated, hinted, or otherwise claimed that government has any business keeping you from buying crappy products.

I am glad that you have decided that was not a good thing to believe.

What I've seen from you is basically a big axe to grind over absolutely nothing at all, snarkiness, blind assumptions, and now condescension.
242 posted on 03/10/2014 10:59:25 AM PDT by andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 236 | View Replies]

To: xzins; lepton; P-Marlowe

Strange moral position from a minister of the Gospel.

Church of Mystery Babylon?
.


243 posted on 03/10/2014 2:10:17 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 237 | View Replies]

To: editor-surveyor; P-Marlowe; lepton

Mystery Babylonian Chicken Wings For Sale!

I wonder if that’s the same as Mystery Meat....they used to serve it to us in the Army.

Both Mystery Meat and Mystery Babylonian Chicken Wings are prominent in the Book of Hezekiah. 29th Chapter, I think.


244 posted on 03/10/2014 2:30:16 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 243 | View Replies]

To: xzins; P-Marlowe; lepton

>> “Book of Hezekiah. 29th Chapter, I think.” <<

You think?

When?


245 posted on 03/10/2014 2:37:59 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 244 | View Replies]

To: editor-surveyor; lepton; P-Marlowe

I think it’s right after the part about Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox.


246 posted on 03/10/2014 3:03:22 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 245 | View Replies]

To: Cyber Liberty

“You don’t get good and plentiful eggs if the chickees aren’t well fed and happy. That’s the market force that will ensure your hens have been well fed. Well, until the very end, then I have to hope they’re quick about it.”

Good eggs? Depends what your definition of good is. Plentiful, no argument there.

Market Forces? LOL. Yeah, that’s a religion to worship today.


247 posted on 03/10/2014 7:09:33 PM PDT by roofgoat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 158 | View Replies]

To: editor-surveyor

“Being humane is now unconservative, I guess.

Some of these kooks here can’t be real.”

uber capitalists - anything else is a birkenstock wearing, obama voting hippie.


248 posted on 03/10/2014 7:15:45 PM PDT by roofgoat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 220 | View Replies]

To: roofgoat

There is more to life than the market. But it’s a pretty good allocator of resources, as long as that’s all I ask of it. I seem to have come across as a bit of a Scrooge or something.


249 posted on 03/10/2014 7:24:27 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 247 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

I GET MY EGGS FROM THE AMISH UP NORTH.I ALSO GET MY RAW MILK.NOTHING LIKE IT.


250 posted on 03/10/2014 10:26:56 PM PDT by primrose (PRIMROSE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

I GET MY EGGS FROM THE AMISH UP NORTH.I ALSO GET MY RAW MILK.NOTHING LIKE IT.


251 posted on 03/10/2014 10:27:56 PM PDT by primrose (PRIMROSE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: roofgoat

Has nothing to do with capitalism.

Raising crap and selling it as food is as Babylonian as you can get.

Dying from ingesting garbage is sooo conservative.


252 posted on 03/11/2014 3:33:49 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 248 | View Replies]

To: xzins

So when the blue ox poops in your ear, you think?


253 posted on 03/11/2014 3:36:54 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 246 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle
The issue being discussed was chickens and adding space to their cages.

Frankly, I think chickens should be allowed to walk around as chickens, but they should have some room in their cage.

As for your hog analogy, there is always a context when dealing with reasonable care for the animal and different animals will be treated differently based on that context.

But animals should have clean food, water, air, room etc-or is that too radical for you?

254 posted on 03/14/2014 3:07:21 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 241 | View Replies]

To: Cyber Liberty
The issue that was being discussed with the chickens having more space to move around in.

Calif. cannot stop eggs coming into their state from another State, that is another issue.

But the author's view that the price of eggs would go up 20% is nonsense.

Supply and demand will deal with the price.

255 posted on 03/14/2014 3:13:07 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 238 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration
But animals should have clean food, water, air, room etc-or is that too radical for you?

As someone who has raised a quarter millions hogs, birth to market, I can assure you that no producer can exist if they don't provide the things you listed.

Animal feeds are targeted to the specific animals being fed, taking into account their sex, age, weight, and dozens of other factors. The feed formula changes often, sometimes weekly, so that the very optimum feed is fed to the animals. Everything that group of animals need is taken into account, vitamins, minerals, you name it, it's analyzed, adjusted, and changed as conditions change.

Water is a key element for all producers, and water quality is analyzed and included as a key feed component. Backup wells and pressure systems are incorporated into every step of the building and production plan. Backup electrical generators provide electrical power for the pumps in the event of power failure, which are often top of the line variable speed drives, rivaling the sophistication of those used by municipal water systems. The backup systems insure that the animal have a continuous supply a fresh water. In the pen or cage, the water delivery equipment used is manufactured from stainless steel and plastics to reduce the buildup of contaminants, and is scientifically placed so that all animals have easy access to what is the cheapest food ingredient, water.

I would assert that animals raised by the American farmer dine and drink a more scientifically balanced meal than 95% of Americans, and probably 99% of the world.

Air supply and airflow are engineered into the building even before the construction begins, and those engineering standards are derived from decades of research preformed by universities.

The amount of room each animal has is also determined by decades of research, and I addressed some of that up thread.

To sum things up, you can relax a bit about the animal cruelty theme often touted by the Luddites who want us to produce our food the way we did a hundred years ago.

If all those terrible things are practiced, the producer, if he is still in business, will unmercifully be driven out by the most terrible and unforgiving master one can have in business, economics.

256 posted on 03/14/2014 7:13:30 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 254 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle
I am sorry to say, but there are those who don't provide those things.

Animals were not made to live in cages.

We know about the veal being raised so it doesn't even get to walk so it's meat will be tender.

We know about the cattle being raised eating meat scraps and being injected with drugs.

We also know that many food industries lobbying to not allow the consumer to know the difference between cage grown chickens and range chickens, cattle raised eating grass vs cattle eating meat scraps and drugged to fatten them up.

257 posted on 03/14/2014 1:29:19 PM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 256 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration
We also know that many food industries lobbying to not allow the consumer to know the difference

I'm always working to expand my knowledge base. Can you provide references?

258 posted on 03/14/2014 3:45:07 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 257 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration

Regards meat scraps to beef, can you also provide references?


259 posted on 03/14/2014 3:45:45 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 257 | View Replies]

To: fortheDeclaration

You may have missed my posts #258 and #259.


260 posted on 04/03/2014 9:21:21 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Want to keep your doctor? Remove your Democrat Senator.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 257 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260261-275 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson