Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the U.S. will boost funding for biosecurity measures and farmer relief and move toward temporary deregulation.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will boost federal funding and work to temporarily remove certain regulations surrounding egg farming to stem the rapid price increases of the household staple.
On the morning of Feb. 26, Rollins outlined a five-point plan “to lower egg prices” in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. In a press release, the White House called the article “the Trump Administration’s comprehensive plan to bring down the price of eggs.”
In a press release published Wednesday afternoon, the USDA said the op-ed was an official announcement of “a $1 billion-dollar comprehensive strategy to curb highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), protect the U.S. poultry industry, and lower egg prices.”
Over the past two years, egg-laying hens in the United States have been racked by a devastating outbreak of H5N1, an HPAI known as avian flu or bird flu. The Epoch Times previously reported that egg prices are as high as they have ever been in the country, largely due to a mass culling of so-called layer hens in response to the current outbreak, which began in 2022.
“The Agriculture Department will invest up to $1 billion to curb this crisis and make eggs affordable again,” Rollins said in her op-ed.
The USDA’s plan includes boosting funding for biosecurity, financial relief to farmers, “exploring the use of vaccines and therapeutics for laying chickens,” removing “unnecessary regulatory burdens,” and potentially allowing temporary imports.
Several points called for new spending, which Rollins said would be financed in part by cutting “hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending.”
The USDA will spend as much as $500 million on implementing “gold-standard” biosecurity measures. She referenced a recent visit to a Cal-Maine Foods Inc. laying facility in Bogata, Texas, which was using strict, wash-in wash-out biosecurity rules. These rules required employees to wear protective gear and to shower upon entering and leaving and vehicles to be washed before entering the premises.
The USDA will expand its Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments program to help more egg farmers identify and eliminate their biosecurity vulnerabilities.
