Farmers warn of shortage as egg laws change
Caged egg farmers on the outskirts of Melbourne says their businesses will be illegal within a decade. The Federal Government will phase out battery caged eggs by 2036 at the latest but farmers have warned the move will have a huge impact on supply and the price of eggs.
Transcript
00:00 Danielle Cucinotta's family has been farming eggs in Werribee for three generations, but
00:07 she could be the last, after the federal government confirmed plans to phase out battery caged
00:13 eggs by 2036.
00:14 And that will mean in ten years, unfortunately, my farm will be considered illegal.
00:20 There are about a dozen caged egg farms on Melbourne's fringe, where there just isn't
00:24 the room to expand to a free range operation.
00:26 We have six little acres here on our farm, so it's not very big.
00:32 The major supermarket chains have vowed to stop stocking caged eggs by as early as 2025.
00:37 But smaller retailers say the recent surge in the cost of living has seen consumers return
00:43 to the cheaper product.
00:45 They say the move to free range could see egg prices double.
00:48 As a business, we are pro free range eggs, but we're also pro choice.
00:53 People vote with their feet, ultimately.
00:55 It will be up to each state and territory to decide when it will move to cage free systems
00:59 over the next ten years.
01:01 The egg industry says although this may cause a lot of confusion and problems with supply,
01:05 the industry will adapt.
01:07 We've become very nimble.
01:08 We've been able to see what's happening in the market and move to solve the problems.
01:15 Egg farmer Boyd Carmody says the move to cage free is a no brainer.
01:20 Imagine seven of these girls stuck in a crate about this big for the rest of their lives.
01:25 He believes the free range industry can fill the void, but does need to be properly regulated.
01:30 The yard that we're in here now is about 12 and a half hectares, and if we were to go
01:34 by Australian standards we could fit 125,000 birds into this one paddock.
01:40 The Victorian Government is yet to announce its caged egg deadline.
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]