By Nina B. Elkadi for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Trimmel Gomes for Mississippi News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration

The cost to feed a family in the United States has increased by 50 percent since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Wages have not increased at the same rate, causing many families to feel burdened by the struggle to make ends meet. Still, corporations are finding ways to make it by; in fact, corporate profits are higher than ever before, including in the egg industry.

A new report from Food & Water Watch details how egg companies have recorded record-profits in spite of the avian flu outbreak. The report looked at the corporate profits of one of the country’s largest egg producers, Cal-Maine, and found that despite not initially being affected by avian flu, the egg producer jacked up its prices. Even though the American Southeast “remained free of bird flu in its table egg flocks until January 2025 …retail egg prices in the Southeast rose alongside January 2023’s national price spikes.”

Amanda Starbuck, Research Director at Food & Water Watch, tells Sentient that corporations are “profiting off this crisis.” In January, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to President Donald Trump asking him to investigate price-fixing in the egg industry.

On March 6, the United States Department of Justice announced it will be investigating Cal-Maine and other corporations for price-fixing. This isn’t the first time the company has been investigated for such actions. In 2023, Cal-Maine and other egg producers were ordered to pay $53 million after being found guilty of price-fixing.

Yet by mid-March, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency announced it was taking aim at the DOJ to begin cutting costs at the agency. Attorney General Pam Bondi has agreed to help with this effort and the agency created a committee to do so: JUST-DOGE. Some of the first cuts being made target consultants on anti-trust cases.

The increase in corporate profits illustrates the ability corporations have to increase their revenue in times of crisis, the Food & Water Watch researchers say. During the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, Cal-Maine experienced record-breaking corporate profits and high dividends for shareholders. If, and when, avian flu abates, these egg producers could keep prices high — unless the federal government intervenes or consumer interest in eggs wanes.

In some regions, like the Midwest, egg production was about the same at the end of 2024 as it was in the middle of 2024. Yet prices for a dozen eggs almost doubled. Without intervention, Starbuck says, corporations do not have an incentive to bring prices back down, assuming market demand stays at least constant.

“Even if we were able to eradicate this disease, prices might go down a little bit, but I don’t foresee us ever going back to the days of a carton of eggs for one dollar,” Starbuck says.

The DOJ investigation is in the “very early stages.” Since the investigation was announced, egg prices have fallen to their lowest levels since December in some parts of the country, a trend largely being attributed to decreased demand and fewer avian flu outbreaks. Just as quickly as they increased prices, egg producers are now, in-part, responding to market conditions driven by consumers feeling the squeeze.


Nina B. Elkadi wrote this article for Sentient.


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As Colorado lawmakers grapple with $1.2 billion in budget cuts, child nutrition advocates are turning to voters to protect funding for the state's Healthy School Meals for All program.

Dr. Sandra Hoyt Stenmark, clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, said when a child has inadequate nutrition, they are more susceptible to acute and chronic illness, and more likely to miss school and fall behind academically and socially.

"We know that malnourishment and stress impair a child's immune function, and worsens chronic diseases such as asthma," Hoyt Stenmark explained.

Healthy School Meals for All serves more than 600,000 meals every school day, regardless of a student's ability to pay. Funding was meant to come from capping tax deductions on people earning $300,000 or more per year but the program's popularity has driven up projected costs. House Bill 1274 would put two measures on November's ballot asking voters to maintain existing funding and ensure long-term stability.

Thai Nguyen, executive director of Kaizen Food Rescue in Denver, said investing in students now will help them be better prepared to land jobs that pay enough to be financially independent as adults. She pointed out for many Colorado kids, the only real meal they get all day is at school.

"It improves students' academics performance," Nguyen emphasized. "Once they have full stomachs, they tend to focus better, score higher on assessments and have fewer behavioral problems."

The ballot measures would also expand the Local Food Purchasing Program, which allows schools to purchase fresh foods directly from Colorado farmers and ranchers.

Roberto Meza, a first generation farmer and CEO of the food distributor Hearty Provisions, believes the program is critical to maintain the viability of independent food producers.

"They have a reliable market for their product," Meza stressed. "That just eases so much stress and uncertainty on the farmer's part. And to know that it's going to feed kids, is just that extra layer of purpose and meaning."


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North Dakota's governor this week signed a bill maintaining state funding for rural communities in dire need of thriving grocery stores.

The state launched a specialized grant program in 2023, setting aside $1 million for smaller communities to share if their local grocery store was in danger of closing its doors, a problem seen in many rural counties.

For example, one small community used its share to match funds for the purchase and reopening of a local convenience store, which added groceries and a restaurant.

Ellen Huber, rural development director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, spoke in support of the new bill extending the grant opportunities.

"Without action, our rural communities are becoming increasingly reliant on distant markets for basic needs and are paying the transportation and fuel costs," Huber pointed out.

Huber told lawmakers since 2014, North Dakota has lost 47 rural grocery stores, leaving only 90 operating around the state. Like the initial funding cycle, the grant program receives $1 million to cover the next two budget years. The bill received overwhelming support in the Legislature but there were some "no" votes as competing rural investment plans surfaced this year.

Just like water, emergency services and health care, Huber argued grocery stores are essential to small-town survival.

"To attract people to live in communities, (those residents) need ready access to healthy, affordable food," Huber emphasized.

Huber and policy experts said shifts in federal law have given bigger chains an edge in buying products in bulk at cheaper prices. It has inspired efforts in parts of North Dakota to establish local grocery store co-ops, where a handful of smaller shops buy items in bulk together.


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Two leading Colorado nonprofits working to end hunger are collecting hand-written letters from a wide range of people who would be directly impacted if Congress cuts funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The letters will be delivered to Colorado's congressional delegation on May 6th.

Carmen Mooradian, senior public policy manager with Hunger Free Colorado, said lawmakers need to see that these cuts are not just about abstract budgets and datapoints.

"We're talking about the real-life effect of cuts on real people. And so we want to hear from Coloradans what impacts SNAP cuts would have on them, and how SNAP has shaped their life," she said.

Letters can be uploaded at 'endhungerco.org' until next Tuesday. Republicans have charged the Agriculture Committee that oversees SNAP to cut $230 billion to pay for priorities such as mass deportations and extending tax breaks. The committee's chairman says SNAP won't see cuts because savings can come from reducing fraud. But some Republicans say the scale of the cuts would require changes to SNAP.

President Donald Trump is currently facing the worst economic approval rating of his political career, according to a new CNBC survey, and cutting SNAP may not improve economic outlooks.

Dayana Leyva, policy manager with Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger, said state and local economies would take a big hit.

"It's an economic engine. For every dollar that is invested into the SNAP program we can expect between $1.50 to $1.80 in local economic activity," she explained. "Currently in Colorado, there are 3,100 authorized SNAP retailers."

Some 600,000 Coloradans currently depend on SNAP to put food on the table. Mooradian said cuts would put even more pressure on the state's already overstressed food pantries. She adds that SNAP cuts would also impact public health.

"SNAP participation is linked to better overall health, especially among children and older adults and people with chronic health conditions. And food insecurity, on the other hand, is tied with higher rates of illness, including asthma in children and more frequent emergency room visits," she continued.