Australia’s egg shortage will continue until September, according to a Werribee South egg farmer.
Brian Ahmed, whose family has produced eggs since 1969, said there were a number of reasons for the shortage, which has hit supermarkets throughout Wyndham.
Spokespeople for Coles, Woolworths and Sims IGA all confirmed a shortage of eggs.
Mr Ahmed said the shortages started at Easter, when there was a higher demand.
And he said there was a lot of confusion around what constituted free-range production.
Farmers were waiting on a definition of free-range farming, so there had been little investment in the sector for three years.
“At the moment, consumers want free range,” Mr Ahmed said.
“We’re farmers so if someone wants something we’ll sell it”.
He said cold weather slowed down free-range production, with chickens more prone to internal and external parasites, and there was a 20 per cent decrease in egg production in winter.
“September is when chickens will start laying again,” he said.
Mr Ahmed, who produces both caged and free-range eggs, said there was nothing wrong with consumers opting for caged products.
“Consumers are led to believe that free-range is the best way of farming,” he said.
“Farmers producing caged eggs do so with high standards, and well-run caged farms offer good animal welfare outcomes.
“Nutritionally, the eggs are the same.”
Mr Ahmed, who is also president of the Victorian Farmers Federation egg group, said the images of caged egg farming being brutal were often of older systems.
He said caged farming had modernised and eggs were produced in fully environmentally controlled sheds, which ensured there were eggs all year. He urged the public to speak to farmers and suppliers about where their food came from.
