Spanish Producers Face Severe Losses from Recent Flash Flooding 

The recent flash floods in Spain have left agricultural regions in crisis, with significant losses expected particularly for citrus farmers in Valencia just before harvest. 

The Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) has described the effects of the flash flooding as an "unprecedented human disaster" and has called for "patience" in assessing damage in the fields, as the storm system known as a Dana is still active in some areas, and access to others is still limited...

European Shell Egg Market Concerned by New Avian Influenza Outbreaks in Italy and France

Italy reported an outbreak of the severe H5N1 avian influenza virus late last week. It was the first outbreak in Italy for several months, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).   

The outbreak occurred on a large commercial layer farm in the northeast believed to house up to 1 million birds, a market source told Expana.  

The same market source said that now that H5N1 avian influenza is back in Italy, coupled with the spread of other livestock and poultry...

REPORTER: The Difficult Road to Cage-Free Eggs in the EU

This article was originally featured in the WINTER 2024 Edition of Urner Barry’s Reporter magazine.

With nearly 390 million laying hens in 2022, the European Union is one of the top regions of the world to produce table eggs and egg products. It is also among the first to engage with cage-free regulations, with a deadline of January 2027 for the total disappearance of cages in egg farms. However, since the law was adopted in 2021, we have seen the emergence of global high inflation, a consequence of...