U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled on Wednesday her agency’s “five-pronged strategy” to bring down the cost of eggs – a plan that prioritizes “gold-standard biosecurity measures” to ensure chickens have a better chance of being protected from bird flu.
In both an op-ed at the Wall Street Journal and a press release at the USDA website, Rollins and her office announced the Trump administration will invest up to $1 billion to address repeated outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and the surge in egg prices that has followed the outbreaks.
“We are working with the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending,” she wrote. “We will repurpose some of those dollars by investing in long-term solutions to avian flu, which has resulted in about 166 million laying hens being culled since 2022.”
“There’s no silver bullet to eradicating avian flu,” the secretary stated, but revealed her five-step plan to address the shortage of chickens and, hence, the shortage of eggs:
- Up to $500 million to assist poultry producers to utilize “gold-standard biosecurity measures.”
Rollins explained she visited a Texas farm “where I saw stringent measures to prevent any contamination,” including a protocol whereby “vehicles are hosed down before entering the property; workers must wear protective gear and shower before entering and on leaving.”
“Yet avian flu can still penetrate such a facility,” the secretary noted. “[I]t is transmitted through wild birds that often enter through perimeter gaps that need to be fixed.”
Rollins cited the USDA’s “successful pilot program, called Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments, to identify and implement more safety measures,” whereby producers are addressing biosecurity risks targeted by the nation’s top agricultural agency.
“USDA will now provide this consulting service at no cost to all commercial egg-laying chicken farms,” she announced. “We will also pay up to 75% of the cost to repair biosecurity vulnerabilities.”
- Up to $400 million of increased financial relief available to farmers whose flocks are culled, plus expedited approvals to begin safe operations again following a bird flu outbreak.
The USDA press statement noted as well that “[n]ew programs are being explored to aid farmers to accelerate the rate of repopulation.”
- Up to $100 million for vaccine and therapeutics research and development.
“[V]accines aren’t a stand-alone solution,” Rollins wrote in her op-ed, but added their use “should help reduce the need to ‘depopulate’ flocks, which means killing chickens on a farm where there’s an outbreak.”
The secretary said the USDA “hasn’t yet authorized the use of a vaccine,” but, prior to doing so, will “consult state leaders, poultry and dairy farmers, and public-health professionals.”
Additionally, she observed the trade issues involved in injecting chickens with vaccines, stating the USDA will “work with our trading partners to minimize potential negative trade effects for U.S. producers and to assess public-health concerns.”
- Eliminate “unnecessary regulatory burdens on egg producers where possible.”
This strategy, Rollins observed, will “include examining the best way to protect farmers from overly prescriptive state laws, such as California’s Proposition 12, which established minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, increasing production costs and contributing to the Golden State’s average price of $9.68 a dozen.”
Additionally, the secretary said she would like to see regulatory burdens eased for “families to raise backyard chickens.”
- Consider importing eggs as a temporary, short-term option to reduce their cost.
“We will proceed with imports only if the eggs meet stringent U.S. safety standards and if we determine that doing so won’t jeopardize American farmers’ access to markets in the future,” Rollins asserted.
While the secretary acknowledged the five-pronged strategy “won’t erase” the high cost of eggs immediately, “we’re confident that it will restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months.”
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