Pay more for your eggs or we’ll go bust, say free-range farmers

FARMERS are pushing for a big rise in egg prices after a warning that higher feed costs have left many of them on the brink of collapse.

The high cost of chicken feed and plunging farm-gate prices have left many free-range producers ‘desperate’ for retail price rises.

The summer drought has left farmers paying up to 0 per cent more for feed than a year ago, says Robert Gooch, head of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association.

Calling for an immediate price increase, he said the feed bill for the lifetime of an average flock of 16,000 birds is now up to £40,000 higher than at the start of 2018.

He also wants supermarkets to introduce special contracts which link the prices of eggs and feed.

Somerset free-range producer Blackdown Hills went bust this week with a loss of 18 jobs and Mr Gooch warns that more could follow.

He told The Grocer magazine: ‘It does not take much to turn profit into a loss.’