Egg Giant Shuts Down—What’s Next?

Bird flu shuts most of Hickman's Family Farms operations for 2 years; activists urge a shift to plant-based alternatives.

A catastrophic bird flu outbreak has forced Hickman's Eggs—the Southwest’s largest egg producer—to halt most operations for two years after losing more than 6 million birds to the avian influenza virus. This egg industry crisis underscores the vulnerability of industrial animal agriculture to disease outbreaks.