Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

If you think egg prices are too high already, beginning in the new year, a Michigan law passed in 2019 will finally go into effect, requiring retailers to only buy and sell "cage-free" eggs.

"Ours have year-round access to the outside. They get out in the fresh air. They get sunshine. They find the food and nutrients they want. Chickens eat a lot of grass," says Ralph Collar, owner of Stone Hedge Farm in Mason.

However, Collar told WILX Lansing that having a more humane egg business in Michigan comes with a price.

"Of course the consumers are the ones that have to pay for that," he says. "If you've got a million birds, or 100,000 birds, whatever the case might be, that's a big expense."

The average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs was $3.65 in November, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Michigan joins seven other states requiring cage-free standards or better.

More information on the new law is attached below.