This is the third installment in a multi-part series investigating Iowa’s egg shortage.

Despite the U.S. Department of Agriculture reporting a decrease in wholesale egg prices, many consumers still expect to see high retail egg prices in their local grocery stores.

This has impacted many nationwide, as the average price of eggs in the U.S. soared to a record-breaking price of $6.23 in March 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The spike in egg prices, which has been attributed to a spike in bird flu cases in the U.S. and has left almost 170 million poultry affected since January 2022, has impacted the wallets of many consumers, left food pantries struggling to keep up with the demand, and has led to institutions, such as Iowa State University, to stop serving fresh eggs entirely.

However, while many have been struggling to continue incorporating fresh eggs into their daily diets, students at the University of Iowa who eat at the university’s dining facilities with a meal plan might face less of an impact.

Julia Antoniou, a first-year student at the UI, utilizes the meal plan she purchased from the university to visit the Burge Market Place for her meals, and it prevents her from having to visit grocery stores and deal with the direct cost of eggs.

“So far, the egg prices have not impacted me just because I’m on a meal plan, so I don’t have to go get groceries,” Antoniou said.

The UI, despite rising egg prices, continues to serve fresh egg products in its dining facilities — scrambled eggs, egg beaters, egg whites, hard-boiled eggs — and has continued to provide the Catlett Market Place’s omelet bar.

In a way, it would appear as though nothing had changed, though Alexis Cheville, a third-year at the UI who also frequents the Burge Market Place, explained she feels as though she has noticed the shortage reflected in the food options provided by the dining hall.

“There are a lot more vegan options than before,” Chevill said.

But as Don Stanwick, the director of dining services with UI’s dining, explained, the UI can still provide fresh eggs because of a contract the university has with Kalona-based Farmers Hen House.

“We have a contract with a provider for eggs that has been locked in for the last several years, and so that price has been set based on that contract,” Stanwick said. “So, our price remains consistent despite rising prices everywhere else.”

Farmers Hen House is a network of over 50 farms, consisting of local Amish and Mennonite farms, farms in Bloomfield, Iowa, and farms in northern Missouri.

While the UI’s contract with Farmers Hen House has allowed the university to navigate turbulent egg prices and continue providing fresh eggs to students amidst the bird flu, as Stanwick explained, the UI’s contract with Farmers Hen House will end at the conclusion of the spring 2025 semester.

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The UI’s Purchasing Department declined to comment on the egg shortage and the UI’s contract with Farmers Hen House.

Stanwick, however, explained the university is already making plans and adjustments to prepare for the contract’s termination.

“We look at menus and everything around those lines to be able to still offer product as much as possible,” Stanwick said. “We’re not going to completely take away everything, but we’ll be smart in terms of how we utilize eggs throughout our menus.”

While Stanwick emphasized that all the plans being made are probables and will not be finalized until the university has a new contract, he also discussed how the university might navigate the issue of rising egg prices in the future by reducing the amount of times they serve an egg dish or limiting an egg dish to being by request only.

“There are still ongoing conversations as we make the plans for our fall menus,” Stanwick said. “Our point is, even if the prices go up, we will still try to find a way to incorporate those products so students can have what they want in the marketplaces.”

Students also expressed their desire to keep eggs available in the dining halls amidst rising egg prices.

“As the egg prices are rising, I hope that they’ll consider the fact that people do still want that for breakfast because that’s one of their main options that they’ll have, scrambled eggs,” Antoniou said. “So, I hope they’ll continue to have that as an option and not take that away.”

And while students using a meal plan might not have to pay the direct cost of rising egg prices, meal plan prices have risen in the past, including a 3 percent increase to meal plans in 2022. But as Stanwick explained, this hopefully will not be something students see.

“Our goal is to keep everything as affordable as possible for students, to keep it within reason,” Stanwick said. “We’ll look at other ways that we can better meet the needs of our students while trying to maintain affordability and the ability for students to be able to get what they want and have that as part of their meals.”