GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The price of a dozen eggs has skyrocketed as avian influenza and inflation impact the supply chain.

According to the consumer price index, egg prices jumped 49% from last year. Ernie Birchmeier with the Michigan Farm Bureau told News 8 that prices in the Mitten State are up between 30% to 40%.

“That has been caused by a number of factors, one of those being avian influenza, which did play an impact in bird population across the country,” Birchmeier said. “Most significantly in the turkey production facilities and the egg-laying facilities.”

Nationally, 57 million birds were affected by the bird flu in 2022. Michigan’s impacted flock was about 35,000 birds. All affected birds were euthanized, which caused a lack of egg inventory nationally.

“When you have a disease that impacts a population or a segment of the population, you’ll have an impact on the supply chain,” Birchmeier said.

Rockford farmer and veteran Justin Bajema started his family sustainable farm, Rebel Pastures, during the pandemic. He said it was evident how fragile the entire supply chain is and decided to take matters into his own hands.

“We wanted to build something that added value and served the community,” Bajema said. “And also get the community connected again with local farmers.”

While eggs at Bajema’s farm have always been more expensive due to his sustainable and pasture practices, inflation has forced his prices to increase as well.

“This year we had to increase. We looked at the cost of our input, we feed non-GMO grain and you can’t just be feeding animals and losing money so something had to give,” he said.

Feed costs, labor costs and energy costs also factor into the egg price increase.