Egg shortage crisis: Producers urge shift toward local production

AS egg supply across major Tasmanian supermarket shelves continues to be scarce, local producers are calling for a stronger focus on local production to ensure a more resilient supply chain.

The egg shortage is believed to be linked to the ongoing Avian Influenza outbreak on the mainland and has forced many producers to cull their hens.

Agriculture Victoria said this has significantly affected the national layer hen flock causing localised disruptions in egg supplies.

The first case of the Avian Influenza H7N3 HPAI strain was detected on a Victorian farm in May 2024 and since then it has spread to 16 mainland poultry farms leading to the culling of nearly two million chickens. 

This has worsened the supply crisis for Tasmania, which has so far had no cases of the influenza.

Phil Glover of Mt Roland Eggs said that despite there being more small producers in Tasmania than last year, many small Tasmanian producers are finding it hard to keep up with egg demand. 

“Normally we’re grading and delivering twice a week but at the moment we’re doing deliveries every day trying to keep up and get eggs out to our customers,” Mr Glover said. 

However he says there would need to be a lot more small poultry farms to fill the gap in supply that is no longer coming in from the mainland.

“We’re a bit naive thinking that everything is hunky dory down here but if it’s not Avian Influenza it will be something else.

“Anything can happen at any time and that’s just part of doing business,” Mr Glover said.

“What we’ve seen since covid is the supply chain has really slowed down, and now it is becoming more important to look at your system.”

“We’ve looked at our own system and made some changes so we can be more resilient and not dependant on imported things for our farm.”

Overall, Mr Glover said it would be beneficial to focus more on growing local enterprises.

“Maybe down the track one of the things we could look at is having a hatchery in Tasmania because at the moment we’re relying on imported chicks from mainland Australia.”

“As an industry and for small farms in Tasmania I think that would make a little bit of a difference,” he said.

Tasmanian Pastured Poultry Producers spokesperson Adam Martin shared his frustrations with the regulatory issues he has faced in trying to build his own business in the last year.

Mr Martin previously ran a similar operation in Victoria to the one he is trying to start in Tasmania and has found it almost “financially impossible” to set up in Tasmania due to the red-tape issues.

He said that aligning Tasmania's regulations with those standards of the mainland would support local businesses.

Mr Martin also discussed the Avian Influenza outbreak on the mainland. 

“The saying of keeping all your eggs in one basket is exactly what’s happening here, and when that basket becomes tainted, you have no eggs left," he said.

 “Why aren’t we spreading this risk out by having many smaller producers spread across the nation?”

“Because then if even 30 percent of the total flock is affected, you still have 70 percent producing so you’re not having such a big production shock and shortage.”