I agree that this seems important. It also makes me worry about the equilibrium effects. If producer A switches to a more expensive system and producer B doesn’t, then I wonder how many consumers just end up buying more cheap eggs from B.
Commitments are usually made by grocers, restaurants, hotels, etc., not producers. You can see in this document by USDA that at least in the U.S., most important companies that made commitments are retailers, followed by restaurants. I think it’s somewhat unlikely that many people will go to another grocer just to save a little bit of money on eggs. Similarly, I don’t think that it will impact people’s choice of restaurants much because egg prices probably won’t influence meal prices that much. Also, some animal advocates believe that eventually all the production in some countries/regions like the U.S. will be cage-free because egg producers won’t want to invest in new caged facilities when there is a risk that further corporate campaigns or law changes will take away the few remaining customers that buy caged eggs.
I agree that this seems important. It also makes me worry about the equilibrium effects. If producer A switches to a more expensive system and producer B doesn’t, then I wonder how many consumers just end up buying more cheap eggs from B.
Commitments are usually made by grocers, restaurants, hotels, etc., not producers. You can see in this document by USDA that at least in the U.S., most important companies that made commitments are retailers, followed by restaurants. I think it’s somewhat unlikely that many people will go to another grocer just to save a little bit of money on eggs. Similarly, I don’t think that it will impact people’s choice of restaurants much because egg prices probably won’t influence meal prices that much. Also, some animal advocates believe that eventually all the production in some countries/regions like the U.S. will be cage-free because egg producers won’t want to invest in new caged facilities when there is a risk that further corporate campaigns or law changes will take away the few remaining customers that buy caged eggs.