美国鸡蛋价格暴跌,这对消费者来说是个大好消息——对农民来说却是一场危机.

Egg prices have plummeted. That’s great news for consumers — and a crisis for farmers.

鸡蛋价格暴跌。这对消费者来说是个大好消息——对农民来说却是一场危机。

By Vanessa Yurkevich

作者：凡妮莎·尤尔克维奇

A chicken stands next to stacks of eggs at Sunrise Farms on February 18, 2025, —?

2025年2月18日，日出农场，一只鸡站在成堆的鸡蛋旁——

Egg prices have been plummeting.

鸡蛋价格一直在暴跌。

That’s great news for American shoppers, but bad news for American farmers.

这对美国购物者来说是个好消息，但对美国农民来说却是坏消息。

The average price of a dozen eggs at the grocery store is $2.58, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about half of what many consumers were paying a year ago.

根据美国劳工统计局的数据，杂货店一打鸡蛋的平均价格为2.58美元。这大约是许多消费者一年前支付价格的一半。

Bird flocks have been on the rebound after last year’s avian flu outbreak, but that has farmers suddenly selling at a loss.

在去年禽流感爆发后，鸡群数量一直在恢复，但这导致农民们突然开始亏本销售。

“Our farmers have traded one crisis for another,” said Emily Metz, president and CEO of the government-created resource group American Egg Board.

政府创建的资源组织美国鸡蛋委员会的总裁兼首席执行官艾米丽·梅茨说："我们的农民刚摆脱一场危机，又陷入了另一场危机。"

Last winter, the avian flu swept the country, killing 70 million egg-laying birds, according to Metz. Consumer demand held steady as supply dwindled, leading to egg shortages and record prices at the grocery store.

据梅茨称，去年冬天，禽流感席卷全美，导致7000万只产蛋鸡死亡。消费者需求保持稳定，而供应量却减少了，导致鸡蛋短缺和杂货店价格创下历史新高。

Since then, farmers have worked tirelessly to rebuild their flock and tighten biosecurity with assistance from the US Department of Agriculture. It worked: The supply of eggs has ballooned, and prices fell.

自那时起，农民们在美国农业部的协助下，不懈努力地重建鸡群并加强生物安全措施。这奏效了：鸡蛋供应量激增，价格随之下降。

The cost of eggs for consumers is 34% lower than last year, according to January’s consumer price index. But for farmers, they have too many eggs selling at rock bottom prices.

根据1月份的消费者价格指数，消费者购买鸡蛋的成本比去年降低了34%。但对农民来说，他们鸡蛋太多，却只能以最低价出售。

The speed at which the prices of eggs went from record highs to recent lows is “remarkable,” said Mike Puglisi, a second-generation egg farmer.

第二代蛋农迈克·普格利西表示，鸡蛋价格从历史高位跌至近期低点的速度"惊人"。

“We appear to be making more eggs than are needed. We got a little break on the (avian flu) outbreaks so people were able to restock and get our flock size back up,” said Puglisi, who owns Puglisi Egg Farms in the eastern United States.

"我们生产的鸡蛋似乎超过了需求。禽流感爆发情况稍有缓解，所以人们能够补充库存，让我们的鸡群数量恢复过来，"普格利西说，他在美国东部经营着普格利西蛋鸡农场。

On average, a farm spends 98 cents to $1.05 to produce a dozen eggs, according to Jada Thompson, an associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas. That often doesn’t include operational costs like packaging and transportation, which have risen in the last year.

根据阿肯色大学农业经济学副教授贾达·汤普森的数据，一个农场生产一打鸡蛋的平均成本在98美分到1.05美元之间。这通常还不包括包装和运输等运营成本，而这些成本在过去一年里有所上涨。

Meanwhile, wholesale egg prices are trading at 92 cents nationally, according to the USDA, their lowest level in three years.

与此同时，根据美国农业部的数据，全国范围内鸡蛋的批发价为92美分，这是三年来的最低水平。

“Now they’re in a situation where (farmers are) dealing with historic low wholesale prices, which means that they’re producing eggs below the cost of production,” said Metz of the American Egg Board.

美国鸡蛋委员会的梅茨说："现在农民们的情况是，他们正面临着历史性的批发低价，这意味着他们生产的鸡蛋低于成本价。"

Puglisi Egg Farms is a midsized company, producing 486 million eggs a year out of their two farms in Delaware and New Jersey. Puglisi didn’t lose any birds last winter, but he’s still operating at a loss. He says it’s far worse for farmers who lost birds last year.

普格利西蛋鸡农场是一家中型公司，每年从其位于特拉华州和新泽西州的两个农场生产4.86亿个鸡蛋。普格利西去年冬天没有损失任何蛋鸡，但他仍在亏本经营。他说，对于那些去年损失了蛋鸡的农民来说，情况要糟糕得多。

“It would be tough because you were out of business for that timeframe and now you’re getting back into business just in time to take the losses, which is exactly what I was worried about in 2022 when we got avian flu,” said Puglisi, who lost his entire flock that year. “They could be in precarious position at this point.”

"那会很艰难，因为那段时间你无法经营，现在你重新开始经营，却正好赶上亏损，这正是我在2022年我们遭遇禽流感时所担心的，"普格利西说，那一年他损失了所有的鸡群。"他们目前的处境可能岌岌可危。"

For smaller producers, the one-two punch of lost birds and low prices could put them out of business.

对于较小的生产商来说，损失蛋鸡和低价的双重打击可能会让他们倒闭。

“We’re seeing farmers who are struggling in the market, and if these conditions persist, we will lose family farms. And that will be devastating to our industry,” said Metz.

梅茨说："我们看到农民在市场上艰难挣扎，如果这种情况持续下去，我们将失去家庭农场。那将给我们的行业带来毁灭性打击。"

Fewer farms would swing the pendulum again – back to shortages and higher prices, Thompson said.

汤普森说，农场减少将使钟摆再次摆动——回到短缺和价格高涨的局面。

“The concern long-term for producers is that, okay, well that company goes out of business, you have less competition. So now we might have shortages of eggs later on,” she said.

"对生产商来说，长期的担忧是，好吧，那家公司倒闭了，竞争减少了。所以之后我们可能会面临鸡蛋短缺，"她说。

An easy fix would be for consumers to just buy more eggs. But many Americans have bought fewer eggs because of high prices and shortages last year.

一个简单的解决办法是让消费者购买更多鸡蛋。但由于去年的高价格和短缺，许多美国人已经减少了鸡蛋购买量。

“The high prices of eggs changed habits for the consumer and the exporters. It will take low prices to get consumers to increase their demand, and that will take time,” said Michael Swanson, the chief agricultural economist at Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute.

富国银行农业食品研究所首席农业经济学家迈克尔·斯旺森说："高昂的鸡蛋价格改变了消费者和出口商习惯。需要低价格才能让消费者增加需求，而这需要时间。"

To better mitigate the wild swings in price and supply, farmers and agricultural groups are advocating for a vaccine against avian flu. While farms have reported fewer cases this year, the virus is still highly contagious and transmitted through wild birds.

为了更好地缓解价格和供应的剧烈波动，农民和农业组织正在倡导使用禽流感疫苗。虽然今年农场报告的病例有所减少，但该病毒仍然具有高度传染性，并通过野鸟传播。

Last year, the USDA announced it would invest $100 million to research and develop vaccines. But the use is controversial. Vaccines don’t protect against the spread of the virus, and the United States is a major exporter of poultry. Many countries won’t accept vaccinated birds.

去年，美国农业部宣布将投资1亿美元用于疫苗研发。但疫苗的使用存在争议。疫苗不能防止病毒传播，而且美国是家禽的主要出口国。许多国家不接受接种过疫苗的家禽。

“Our farmers still need tools in their toolbox to fight this virus and make sure that these highs and lows are mitigated through every possible means,” Metz said. It “will bring a level of certainty and calm to the egg industry that’s desperately needed.”

梅茨说："我们的农民仍然需要工具箱里有工具来对抗这种病毒，并确保通过各种可能的手段来缓解这些价格的高峰和低谷。"疫苗"将为急需稳定和平静的蛋品行业带来一定程度的确定性。"