VIDEO: What to expect for the US egg industry in 2021

Are better times ahead for egg producers or will the year bring more challenges? Chad Gregory, president and CEO of UEP gives his perspective.

Chad Gregory, is the president of the UEP. (Benjamín Ruiz)
Chad Gregory, is the president of the UEP. (Benjamín Ruiz)

In a WATT Poultry Chat video interview, Chad Gregory, president and CEO of the United Egg Producers (UEP), spoke with Egg Industry Insight Managing Editor Deven King about what challenges may be in store for egg producers this year.

KING: Chad, after a year like 2020 I'm sure many in the egg industry are looking for future insight. Can you talk a little bit about what you expect to be the biggest challenge for egg producers in 2021?

GREGORY: I think you know, one of the biggest challenges is going to continue to be the lack of stability for our membership. I think 2020 and the COVID-19 months, just provided so much lack of stability for their companies and predictability for their companies and that is going to continue for at least the foreseeable future. So I'd love for at some point, you know, as early as possible in 2021, for us to get to a more predictable stability time for our members, for their farms, and their customers and so forth. And then obviously, another one of the big challenges is just the continuation of these various state laws to transition to cage-free and the concern and uncertainty that comes with that.

KING: So that is a perfect segue into my next question, Chad, where do you think we'll sit on the cage-free pledges and transitions this year?

GREGORY: Well, as of right now, Deven, seven states have passed state laws, that say all eggs produced and sold must be cage-free by, you know by a certain date in the future. And then there are also all these company pledges to go cage-free by 2024/2025. I think there are 229, you know, restaurants, grocery store chains, food manufacturers, and so forth that have made these cage-free commitments by 2024/2025. If you add that into the seven states that have passed these state laws, there are some real serious decisions and real serious challenges that are facing our industry very quickly. As an example, this time next year, both California and Massachusetts will have gone into effect. And right now in the US, according to USDA, there's 70 million cage-free hens, those two states, California and Massachusetts, just those two states a year from now will require about 45 to 50 million hens just to provide those two states with cage-free eggs. So you know, also the NGOs, the animal rights organizations are going to be working, it appears, at least this is what they've told us, is that they're going to be working in 2021 on additional state legislation in pretty much the western states. You know, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona and so forth. So we'll see by this time next year, we may have two states that have already gone into effect, needing 50 million eggs or 50 million hens worth of eggs. And then we may also have another four or five, six states that have passed state laws, just creating a nightmare, the logistical situation, you know, coming up in 2024, and 2025.

KING: So aside from those challenges, can you talk a little bit about how big of an issue you think COVID is going to continue to be?

GREGORY: I think, by and large, the resiliency of egg producers, not only with high path AI in 2015, but since then, and then certainly during the COVID 2020 year, they're incredibly resilient, and I think with regards to your specific question, how big of an issue, I think most producers in this country have settled into the kind of a new norm. And so hopefully, as I said, in my first answer, we'll get back to more stability and predictability. If not, then I think the industry will just continue doing what they're doing. And UEP will continue to try to assist them in that with regards to government help, and so forth. I think we did a great job in 2020 in acting as a liaison to our industry and the producers, helping them get through those situations and will continue to as long as things continue the way they are or getting better.

KING: Great. Well, Chad before we wrap things up, is there anything else you'd like to add?

GREGORY: Well, I would say that you know, the last 10 to 20 years it's been incredibly difficult to be an egg producer. In the United States, and it looks like the future months and the future years, it's going to get exponentially more challenging and more difficult. UEP thankfully, one of the things we were able to solidify and do in 2020 was to establish four strategic priorities for us to be laser-focused on for the next five years, and those are market transparency, sustainability, government affairs, and better industry collaboration and communication. I think if UEP can get those four things, right, and focus on those four things, the next several months, if not several years, that those challenges will at least be more manageable for the egg producers in the United States to navigate through that. So that's kind of what I would like to say in my closing comments is that I feel confident that UEP and our board of directors will lead us through these coming months and coming years in a good way, just like they always have.

This script was edited for length and clarity. 

 
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