Skyrocketing egg prices

in Europe, up 67 percent

Europeans are coping with a new reality when it comes to the humble egg - prices are 67 percent higher than one year ago.

Production has dropped 15 percent since a government mandate banning conventional cage house systems for hens went into effect in January.

"Reasons for Ruffled Feathers," a recent Chicago Tribune opinion piece by Mike Doherty, senior economist and policy analyst at Illinois Farm Bureau, explores the situation.

Doherty discussed the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012, which would ban conventional cages for laying hens in the U.S.

Farm Bureau opposes efforts to legislate animal care standards, advocating instead that any welfare criteria be established using science-based methods.