HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pancake samples may be free for Pennsylvania Farm Show guests, but for the people serving them, they’re coming at a much higher cost.
“I was shocked when I ordered a case of eggs," said Dawn Harnish. "It was 15 dozen to a case, and it was $90 for the case, so $6.00 a dozen.”
Harnish is in town for the Farm Show.
She owns Burnt Cabins Grist Mill in Fulton County, which sells its own pancake and flour mixes, as well as other items like eggs.
“[Customers] come in, they see the price, they swallow hard but they buy them because they need the eggs," said Harnish.
According to the latest government data, the national average price for a dozen eggs was $4.25 in December.
That’s more than double the same time last year.
Now just one month later, retail prices are closing in on five and six dollars a dozen.
"We’ve had to depopulate large segments of our poultry population, don’t have the same volume of hens laying eggs as we did before, couple that with inflation and other pressures in the economy, it’s been a very difficult situation," explained Grant Gulibon, an environmental specialist with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
Gulibon says there are several reasons behind the skyrocketing prices.
One of the biggest is a lagging effect from a summer and fall full of avian flu outbreaks.
"During the hotter weather, the virus gets suppressed, it makes it less virulent but once we got into the fall, we started seeing more outbreaks across the state, literally from border to border," he explained.
Fuel and feed prices are also on the rise, which is impacting farmers.
They are being forced to pass the extra costs onto their customers, who in turn have to pass it on to theirs.
“I try to keep my prices low," said Harnish. "I’m in a very rural, poor community but I have to if I’m going to stay in business.”
Experts say it doesn’t hurt to have hope, but shoppers shouldn’t expect much relief in the near future.
“Nothing is forever, everything is obviously cyclical but we’re certainly closer to the beginning than we are to the end I think," said Gulibon.
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