Robert Gooch, CEO of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association recently penned a letter to the editor of The Economist that appeared in the December 19th edition.  Gooch made the case that importation of U.S. free-range eggs would "bankrupt British free-range egg farmers".  Gooch notes the apparent difference in standards for free-range management between the U.S. and U.K.  His comparison is however fallacious given the close correspondence between welfare regulations governing free-range production in the U.S. and the U.K.

It is axiomatic that free-range production requires a higher input of labor.  Free-range production in the U.S. is certainly less than one percent of total shell and liquid output combined so the prospect of extensive export to England, impacting their domestic production is highly unlikely.

Robert Gooch