The dark secret behind the soaring prices of eggs in the United States: Three major producers are suspected of manipulating prices.

According to reports, on December 19, 2022, top executives from the three largest egg producers in the United States held a conference call. The topic of discussion was how to keep egg prices high. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that just days before Christmas, the CEO of Hickman's Egg Ranch in Arizona came up with a plan to raise the industry benchmark price for eggs. If Hickman's and other large egg companies all aggressively bid to buy eggs on the wholesale market exchange, they could raise a key pricing index that would impact the prices consumers pay at grocery stores. A federal court filing released this week revealed that a person implicated in the conspiracy said, "As a group, we need to bid like Chicagoans vote, early and often." The lawsuit filed in federal court in Iowa describes how a few large egg producers have been attempting to manipulate an obscure pricing process that plays a role in determining the price Americans pay for eggs. Antitrust enforcement officials stated that from 2022 to 2025, executives from Cal-Maine Foods, Hickman's, and Versova coordinated bidding and trading through phone calls and information exchanges.