Jersey egg farmer warns he could go bust if prices continue to rise

Farmer Allan McCaffrey said it would be unreasonable to increase the price of his eggs

An egg farmer in Jersey has warned he could go out of business if prices continue to rise.

Happy Hen's owner Allan McCaffrey said the cost of buying chicken feed had almost doubled since 2021.

He said feeding his chickens now cost him £480 per tonne and if prices continued to rise he would have to shut down.

The farmer added he could not increase prices, saying "how much are people willing to pay for an egg?"

The company, based in Grouville, has approximately 8,000 hens which produce about 6,000 eggs a day.

Mr McCaffrey said: "I think anything over £500 a tonne then we'll have to see farms close which would be devastating, not only for our local produce but food security as a whole for the island."

He said it would not be economically possible to increase its prices: "We can't go any higher, how much are people willing to pay for an egg?

"We have to be competitive, if we could raise them then we would because that would keep us continuing to farm".

The States Assembly is set to debate different types of financial support to help islanders with the rising cost of living in its mini budget in September.

Follow BBC Jersey on Twitter and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].