Agriculture secretary outlines plan to lower egg prices

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins outlined a “five pronged strategy” to lower the cost of eggs in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal op-ed citing the avian flu as an influencing factor in price hikes.

“The Agriculture Department will invest up to $1 billion to curb this crisis and make eggs affordable again. We are working with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending,” Rollins 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.”

The Agriculture secretary said that $500 million will be allocated to help U.S. poultry producers implement “gold-standard biosecurity measures” with a focus on protective gear and procedures that decrease the risk of contamination.

She added that officials will consider temporarily importing eggs to lower costs and said legislation like California’s Proposition 12, which upholds space requirements for egg-laying hens, is driving up production costs and will be examined.

Rollins also stressed that researchers are exploring the use of vaccines and therapeutics for egg-laying hens.

“While vaccines aren’t a stand-alone solution, we will provide up to $100 million in research and development of vaccines and therapeutics, to improve their efficacy and efficiency. This should help reduce the need to ‘depopulate’ flocks, which means killing chickens on a farm where there’s an outbreak,” the Agriculture secretary said.

“USDA hasn’t yet authorized the use of a vaccine. Before making a determination, USDA will consult state leaders, poultry and dairy farmers, and public-health professionals.”

Rollins added that department officials have evaluated 150 sites to address risks and will pay 75 percent of the costs needed to repair biosecurity vulnerabilities and make $400 million available to farmers whose flocks are affected by avian flu.

“This five-point strategy won’t erase the problem overnight, but we’re confident that it will restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months,” Rollins concluded.

“This approach will also ensure stability over the next four years and beyond.”

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