Cage-free-egg laws spur states match

WASHINGTON — Dennis Bowden has raised chickens in the town of Waldoboro, Maine, nearly his whole life. For more than 40 years, he raised his chickens in cages. Then four years ago, when he turned 65, he cut down his flock and went cage-free.

The decision to switch was Bowden’s alone, but around the country many politicians have firmly taken sides on the issue of penning hens, hoping either to require egg producers to go cage-free or to protect conventional producers by mandating that stores stock their eggs.

Eggs are a staple of the American diet, with 88 billion table eggs produced in 2016. Egg consumption is growing, and the quality of life of the hens that lay the eggs has become an issue not just for animal welfare groups but also for many consumers. Although cage-free hens represent 16 percent of U.S. chickens, their share of the flock grew by a third from 2016 to 2017, and the egg industry and its supporters are paying close attention.

When California and Massachusetts enacted laws requiring that eggs produced and sold there be raised cage-free, 13 states including some of the nation’s largest egg producers sued, saying the laws violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Iowa, the top egg-producing state in the country, went further and enacted a law to protect its conventional, cagedchicken industry. The state now requires any grocer participating in the federal food program for low-income mothers, infants and children, known as WIC, to sell conventional eggs alongside cage-free options.

And last week, U.S. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, introduced an amendment to the farm bill that would block states from regulating agricultural products that are also produced in other states — a clear shot at cage-free-egg laws.

The tension comes as many restaurants and retailers say they are going cage-free — McDonald’s and Kellogg’s plan to do so by 2025, as does the grocery chain Kroger. And Ohio, Oregon and Washington have banned traditional cages, while this year, bills in Rhode Island and Michigan would require cage-free production and sales.

Conventional egg producers outside those states fear that as more egg-importing states enact such laws, they too will be required to go cage-free, costing them about $40 a bird to convert their facilities.

The Humane Society of the United States, which was behind the ballot measures approved in Massachusetts and California as well as the bill in Rhode Island, said that’s the goal.

“Some states are net importers; some are net exporters,” said Josh Balk, vice president of farm animal protection with the organization. “What we hope to achieve is that there is no place for caged hens to be sold anywhere.”