A California law mandating that all eggs sold in the state come from cage-free chickens will drive up the cost of eggs nationwide by more than 50%, according to a study from North Carolina State University.
The study attempts to predict the effect of Proposition 12, a measure passed by California voters that went into effect Jan. 1. It requires all eggs sold in California to come from chickens that were not confined to cages, whether or not the eggs were laid in California.
The study, published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, predicted that the average price of a dozen eggs in California would reach $5.12 per dozen. This would be 65% more than eggs from conventionally caged hens.
The study also found that preference for cage-free eggs rises with household income and education levels. From 2015 to 2107, about 16% of the eggs consumed in households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more were cage-free, compared with 5.5% in households with incomes of $25,000 to $50,000.
