“Have you seen the price of eggs lately?”
North Forkers, residents throughout Long Island and nationwide shoppers have all heard this question in recent months.
According to the Consumer Price Index, the price of eggs increased nearly 60% from Dec. 2021 to Dec. 2022. Many North Forkers catch this sticker shock in the supermarket. Suddenly, the price for organic and local goods, once considered a premium, is a reasonable option.
For other residents, this has been a long-time practice. While higher prices for organic goods may have once seemed unreasonable
“I know it’s a little more expensive but I think it’s worth it because you know where everything comes from here,” customer Joanne Giulietti said, dropping her dollars into the cash box at Goodale Farms in Aquebogue. “Actually, eggs really aren’t any more expensive here now.”
At Goodale, eggs cost $7 for a dozen. For Giulietti, price is not the only factor to consider at any market. Like many North Forkers, she values quality and local sourcing.
“I know where they’re coming from,” she said. “I get all of my dairy from here rather than the supermarket.”
For farmers like Holly and Chris Browder, who own Browder’s Birds in Mattituck the price hike in the supermarket has no effect on their farm stand. Holly Browder said they haven’t raised the price of their eggs, which go for $10 a dozen, in several years.
While she has not seen a spike in the number of customers visiting her stand, she has noticed an increased demand for her eggs.
“We’re not as busy as the summer, but I notice in the winter people are buying multiple dozens of eggs, so they must be feeling a shortage is a problem,” she said. “In the summer people are always here, we sell eggs every day. In the winter there’s less people but each person is buying more than a dozen.”
While the chicken coup at Browder’s Birds is fruitful, other farmers cannot keep up with the demand. Coolers and cartons are absent from many roadside eggs stands.
“Chickens lay less eggs in the winter than the rest of the year,” Ira Haspel, who owns KK’s The Farm in Southold, said. “It’s colder, there’s less light, they feed less, they lay less eggs.”
Those interested in hitting up Haspel’s farm for a dozen eggs for $10 may want to call ahead to ensure he has them in stock. He will likely get more from his supplier — Pendleton’s Harvest Moon Farm — very soon.
“I’ll have some more probably by next weekend,” he said.
