Dow Jones described the travails of Josh Zimmerman who operates a family farm in Hamburg, PA.  His flock of 75,000 cage-free hens supplied a processing company producing egg liquid for the food service market.  With the collapse of this segment of distribution, his buyer is no longer able to take and pay for his eggs and he is obliged to find alternative markets. 

As a supplier of tray-packed eggs to a breaker, Zimmerman operated only with a farm packer and was not equipped to sell eggs to retail outlets.  Fortunately, he has been helped by a business that sells eggs directly to the public. To participate in this market Zimmerman invested in equipment to wash and grade between 175 and 190 cases each day. 

Last week, EGG-NEWS recounted the situation in Albany, MN where an integrator euthanized four flocks previously supplying eggs to a now shuttered Cargill breaking plant in Big Lake, MN. 

Zimmerman and farmers in his position hope that demand from restaurants will increase as COVID-19 restrictions are eased.  In addition to the loss of markets, the breaker he supplied has experienced problems with absenteeism due to COVID-19 infection of workers.  Even if a market were to be regained in the short term, processing rates will be constrained by availability of labor.