Free-range farmers are warning of egg shortages and a mass exodus from their industry unless supermarkets raise prices to help cover spiralling costs.
More than half of farmers are "seriously considering" stopping production at the end of their current flock unless the price they are paid improves, according to an industry survey.
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) says the sector has been hit with huge hikes in production costs such as animal feed, energy and fuel.
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Those rises have been exacerbated by the impact of the war in Ukraine on world commodity markets, and also by the continuing restrictions to prevent the spread of bird flu.
The UK's biggest outbreak of the disease - including nine cases in Suffolk - has prolonged a mandatory housing order which means free range hens are still being kept indoors, with their produce re-labelled as "barn eggs".
Meanwhile, although grocery prices are rising in the shops, BFREPA says supermarkets have yet to increase the price of free-range and organic eggs to a level where many farms can break even.
A retail trade body said supermarkets knew the importance of sustaining long-standing relationships with suppliers, but are "constrained by how much additional cost they can pass onto consumers in this very difficult market”.
Sam Mitchell manages 32,000 free-range hens at The Cluckery, part of his family's mixed farm at Repps With Bastwick, near Great Yarmouth.
The venture started in 2018, but he said he won't restock his flock in 10 weeks' time unless prices improve.
"It is a dire situation," he said. "We are at a stage where we have 10 weeks to make a decision before ordering more pullets [young hens].
"We have got to see if it is financially possible to keep going. We are quite new at free range and we have spent a fair bit of money but we have got bills and bank payments to make so we have to ask: can we survive?
"We have reinvested in our own mill, so we now mill all our own feed on the farm to help with the costs so hopefully the prices will increase in the long term and we can keep going."
Rob Norman also invested in a 32,000-hen unit in 2018 at his family's farm in Hickling. He added: "Since then feed, pullets, labour and electric have gone up by £230,000 per flock.
"The issue with the retailers is that we, as farmers, produce the loss leaders on the shelves, the essential items, and they then make their money out of high margin items such as washing up liquid.
"To put it simply it is a ticking time bomb for the British free range egg sector. If the public still wants the highest welfare 'lion code' guaranteeing things like salmonella-free eggs on the shelf, the retailers need to come to the table in the next 6-8 weeks to help save the industry."
Robert Gooch, chief executive of BFREPA, added: “There are clear and obvious cost increases being heaped upon farmers, and retailers simply aren’t sufficiently adjusting the retail price.
"Any increases being made are too little and too slow. They are suffocating businesses.
“We’ve asked every major retailer to increase the price of free range eggs by at least 40p per dozen – organic eggs need an increase closer to 80p per dozen.
"The appetite for eggs from the public is extraordinary, but I’m afraid we will see shortages of British free range and organic eggs on the shelves before long.”
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, which represents major UK supermarkets, said: "Retailers have long-standing, established relationships with their suppliers and know how important maintaining these are for their customers and businesses.
"Supermarkets source most of their food from the UK and know they need to pay a sustainable price to farmers but are constrained by how much additional cost they can pass onto consumers in this very difficult market.”
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