Soaring Egg Prices: Trump’s Broken Promises Expose Biden and Harris’ Failures
Despite the bold proclamations from President Donald Trump in August 2024 that he would act to reduce grocery costs from the get-go of his term, we have seen no such improvement. On the flip side, the prices of many food items notably eggs, have escalated since his ascension to power. The question that begs an answer is, what’s fueling this increase in price? Opinions are as varied as the populace, but one farmer has stripped down the issue to its bare essence. The price hike is not necessarily a direct result of the President’s actions, but his administration has, to put it lightly, added kerosene to the already burning situation.
According to this farmer, there exist two major culprits behind the soaring egg prices, which has become an intense political discussion point. While Trump’s lofty promises to reduce prices have remained a pipe dream, the cost of eggs has shot to dizzying heights. A month and some days after his inauguration, eggs now cost an astronomical $8.06 per dozen as of February 24, 2025. Given that the cost of a dozen eggs was $4.59 at the commencement of Trump’s term, the price hike can only be described as staggering. Sadly, the phenomenon is not exclusive to eggs; prices have surged for food items, fuel, housing and generally spurred inflation.
What precipitated this sudden increase, one may ask? A farmer uses his firsthand experience in chicken rearing and the egg industry to provide rather straightforward answers in a TikTok video. A key contributing factor is the bird flu epidemic wiping out poultry flocks and thereby causing widespread egg shortages. Chris Newman, a seasoned poultry farmer based in Virginia, sought to clarify misconceptions going around about the link between bird flu and egg price inflation. To the conjectures positing the reality of bird flu and the perceived disingenuousness of the price increment, Newman agrees partially.
The bird flu strain, H5N1, and the general bird flu epidemic have been prevalent and problematic for several years. However, the impact on egg prices has been minimal until now. Newman mentions that the game has changed in a significant way. For the first time, the bird flu epidemic is impacting all major production flocks, not just the conventionally caged birds that are typically more susceptible due to their confinement. Freely rearing poultry, cages or not, organic or otherwise, are not spared either. Even backyard farmers are feeling the pinch. This time around, the situation is dire – Newman corroborates.
Numbers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicate that in 2023 the egg-producing chicken population in the U.S. sat at around 382 million poultry birds. Fast forward to February 2025, and approximately 20 million of this number have either succumbed to the bird flu epidemic or been culled due to infection. This results in a significant reduction in supply, as Newman puts it. Naturally, the price of eggs is going to skyrocket as a result of this supply chain disruption.
But this is only one half of the issue. Newman uncovers yet another unsatisfactory trend – abuse of the shortage situation by corporations and sellers to cover up for price controlling or ‘greedflation’ as he calls it. He condemns the major producers, who are the most impacted by the bird flu outbreak, for possibly raising their prices more than what’s warranted. This narrative is not unfamiliar; companies have been inflating prices illegitimately under the guise of rising costs of production or inflation, a phenomenon observed as early as 2021.
Citing a specific example, Newman shares a recent experience with a meat shop he supplies, whose current egg supplier suddenly announced a 50% hike in egg prices. And it’s not just the massive corporate farms and grocery chains that are guilty of this; smaller farms and suppliers are joining the bandwagon of exploiting the situation for personal gain.
Newman notes in a subsequent video that the different timelines for chicken maturity – six weeks for meat production and 16 to 24 weeks for egg-laying capabilities – partly fuel the rising egg costs. This disparity explains why the meat supply has been less affected by the bird flu situation compared to the egg industry. This in turn has bred a culture of selfish profiteering in the egg market, worsened by the Trump administration’s actions.
It seems the Trump administration has exacerbated the already troubling situation caused by avian flu and egg prices. Individuals at the USDA, primarily the team tasked with handling the epidemic, were among the numerous government workers deemed redundant and fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As the bird flu crisis escalated, the USDA was frantic to rehire the dismissed staff.
A USDA spokesperson would later clarify that, ‘USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions,’ hence the continued hiring dedicated to ensuring food safety and sufficient supply in adherence with their statutory mission. However, the Trump administration’s communication blockade with public health agencies and absence of collaboration with the World Health Organization lingered, even as the bird flu situation reached alarming levels.
Trump seems unfazed by the persistent rise in grocery prices under his administration; he’s happy to shift the blame to Joe Biden, promising that his Secretary of Agriculture will ‘do something’ about it soon. However, this ‘something’ that may or may not come, brings no solace to the pressing issue of rampant price manipulation and corporate greedflation, which constitutes the other half of the egg problem.
It’s clear Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, despite their outlandish promises and rhetoric, left the country in a dire state. They claimed to prioritize workers and middle class Americans, but under their watch they delivered only suffering and increased prices.
It can be said that Biden’s stance, which some misguided individuals believe to be the ‘correct’ alternative, actually fell considerably short. His hollow promises of prosperity and unity turned out to be just that – empty words that left the country in an unfortunate mess.
Moreover, Kamala Harris, championed by some as a beacon of hope and progress, has done nothing more than fuel the chaos. Her well-publicized stance has not had any meaningful positive impact but has instead paved the way for unending bouts of turmoil and hardship.