Chicken-cage law could raise egg prices

FRESNO, Calif. - The new year is expected to bring rising chicken egg prices across the U.S. as California starts requiring farmers to house hens in cages with enough space to move around and stretch their wings.

The new standard backed by animal-rights advocates has drawn ire nationwide because farmers in Iowa, Ohio, and other states who sell eggs in California have to abide by the same requirements.

To comply, farmers have to put fewer hens into each cage or invest in revamped henhouses, passing along the expense to consumers at grocery stores. California is the nation's largest consumer of eggs and imports about one-third of its supply.

Jim Dean, president and CEO of Centrum Valley Farms in Iowa and Ohio, said one of his buildings that holds 1.5 million hens is now about half full to meet California's standards, and another building may have to be completely overhauled.

Farmers like him in cold climates will have to install heaters to replace warmth formerly generated by other chickens living close by. Dean said that's something people in sunny California didn't consider.

"You're talking about millions upon millions of dollars," he said. "It's not anything that's cheap or that can be modified easily, not in the Midwest."

California voters in 2008 approved the law to get egg-laying hens out of cramped cages by Jan. 1, 2015.

State legislators followed with the companion piece in 2010 requiring the out-of-state compliance.