GMO Labeling Blocked & Eggs Prices for Easter

GMO Labeling Blocked & Eggs Prices for Easter. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The U.S. Senate failed to pass Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas' uniform, national food labeling standard in a close 48-49 cloture vote. Senator Debbie Stabenow said before the vote that the negotiations would continue and that she hoped a deal could be wrapped up "yet this week," but it was also possible that any resolution would have to wait until after the two-week Easter recess. 

A quick check of the calendar shows that indeed today is St. Patrick's Day but glancing a little further down the road it's now only just over a week before Easter lands on your doorstep. That of course means decorating some Easter eggs. What should you expect this year for egg prices after last years devastating bird flu outbreak? Economist Shayle Shagam has the details.

SHAGAM: We're just not seeing the kind of demand pressure on price that we have seen in previous years. Producers have been rebuilding their flocks but we're still running about 7% below year earlier levels.

Wholesale prices last week averaged $1.05 a dozen when last year at this time a dozen eggs were going for $1.66. A number of factors include greater imports of eggs and the fact that fewer markets took U.S. eggs after the bird flu outbreak leaving more eggs for the U.S. market.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.