Chickens Coming Home to Roost

You know how the price of eggs has gone up recently? Check out this fact, from the recent Star Tribune series on global food issues:

Just 20 years ago, 2,500 egg producers handled most of the eggs sold and consumed in the United States. A large henhouse had perhaps 100,000 birds. Today, about 250 businesses produce 95 percent of the nation's eggs, from henhouses that are as long as football fields and capable of housing more than 500,000 hens.

Gee, you'd think all that efficiency and economy of scale would make the eggs cheaper, not more expensive.