Reuters' Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas reported that "the U.S. has almost doubled imports of Brazilian eggs once used only for pet food and is considering relaxing regulations for eggs…
USDA Investing $1 Billion & Increasing Egg Imports to Fight Bird Flu
Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported Wednesday morning that “the U.S. will invest up to $1 billion to combat the spread of bird flu, including increasing imports of eggs, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins said on Wednesday.”
“The USDA will spend up to $500 million to provide free biosecurity audits to farms and $400 million to increase payment rates to farmers who need to kill their chickens due to bird flu, Rollins said at a conference of state agriculture officials,” Douglas reported. “Some of the money will come from cuts to USDA spending by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Rollins said in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal op-ed.”
.@SecRollins announcing USDA’s $1 billion investment in biosecurity, repopulating chicken farms, and cutting burdensome regulations to combat avian flu and stabilize egg prices.
— House Committee on Agriculture (@HouseAgGOP) February 26, 2025
“The USDA is exploring vaccines for chickens but is not yet authorizing their use, Rollins said. The poultry industry is divided on whether to vaccinate chickens because of potential trade implications,” Douglas reported. “‘It could be a solution, but to push that out now and require it, we’re just not ready,’ Rollins said of vaccines when speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday.”
Bloomberg’s Michael Hirtzer and Josh Wingrove reported that “the nation will look to import between 70 million and 100 million eggs during the next month or two, the US Department of Agriculture said Wednesday as it announced a five-part plan with $1 billion in funding to address bird flu. …During an outbreak in 2015, the US imported more than 53 million fresh chicken eggs from countries including Spain, Canada, Italy and France, according to USDA data. Turkey shipped nearly 491,000 eggs to the US last year. Still, those are relatively small amounts — in January, even with fewer hens, the US produced more than 8 billion eggs.”
In addition, The Hill’s Ashleigh Fields reported that Rollins “said legislation like California’s Proposition 12, which upholds space requirements for egg-laying hens, is driving up production costs and will be examined.”
Current State of the Outbreak
Stateline’s Nada Hassanein reported Wednesday that “the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, known as H5N1, has killed millions of wild birds and has led to emergency culling of commercial flocks.”
“More than 166 million birds across all 50 states have been infected nationwide since 2022, according to CDC data as of Tuesday. Over the past month, the virus has been detected in 86 commercial flocks and 51 backyard flocks. Infected poultry flocks must be culled when an outbreak occurs,” Hassanein reported. “…The virus has (also) been detected in more than 200 mostly wild and feral mammals in the U.S. since 2022.”
“Nationwide, there have been 70 confirmed human cases since 2024, according to the CDC. Most of these cases have been among farmworkers, who are in daily close contact with poultry and cattle,” Hassanein reported. “California has tracked the most cases, with 38 patients, nearly all exposed to the virus from dairy herds, followed by Washington state with 11 cases. Other infections in humans have been confirmed in Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin.”
Egg Prices Predicted to Skyrocket in 2025
ABC News’ Julia Reinstein reported that “egg prices are predicted to increase by 41.1% in 2025, according to a report released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday. In January, the federal agency had predicted a 20% increase.”
“The predicted price hike comes as a result of rising bird flu cases, which have had a substantial impact on farms,” Reinstein reported. “According to the report, retail egg prices went up by 13.8% in January, after rising by 8.4% in December. Overall, egg prices in January were 53% higher than the year before, according to the report. The national average price for eggs hit $4.95 a dozen for shoppers in January, according to an earlier report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
“An increasing number of commercial egg layers are being affected by the bird flu outbreak. The report estimated 18.8 million commercial egg layers were affected by bird flu in January, the report stated,” according to Reinstein’s reporting. “In another report published by the USDA on Feb. 14, the agency said wholesale egg prices had gone up $0.40 over a 30-day period. ‘Offerings are very light to light with little chance for improvement in the near-term as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to impact productive flocks,’ the USDA said in the Feb. 14 report.”
