USDA’s Billion Dollar Bird Flu Plan

The USDA isn’t clucking around with bird flu any longer.

On Thursday, Secretary of Ag Brooke Rollins announced the USDA’s $1B plan to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and address sky-high egg prices domestically.

“The gold-standard”: Five hundred million dollars will go toward “gold-standard biosecurity measures.” In simpler terms, the Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments will expand to guard farms from wild bird transmission. Rollins said the USDA will pay up to 75% of the cost to handle identified biosecurity issues on poultry farms.

ICYMI, wild bird transmissions have caused 83% of HPAI cases.

Rewind and refresh: Since 2022, bird flu in the U.S. has been responsible for the deaths of 166M chickens, infected 1,000 dairy herds, and 70 people with one human death.

Help for farmers: Another $400M will increase payment rates to farmers who need to cull their flocks due to bird flu.

USDA is also exploring the potential for vaccines and therapeutics. While vaccines haven’t been authorized in poultry, an additional $100M will be invested to explore their usage.

Waving the caution flag: Poultry industry groups aren’t sure if vaccinating domestic flocks is on their bingo cards, as it could present trade issues.

Thanks, DOGE. Rollins said some of the funding is from USDA spending cuts executed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Later, her chief of staff said the money was from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) aka discretionary funding.

Make eggs affordable again: Egg prices have increased 53% since January. The USDA plans to remove regulatory heartaches on farmers wherever they can in an effort to bring prices down. In the interim, the Trump administration is considering increasing egg imports temporarily while reducing U.S. egg exports to keep eggs in the States.

Soundbite: “American farmers need relief, and American consumers need affordable food. To every family struggling to buy eggs: We hear you, we’re fighting for you, and help is on the way.” – Brooke Rollins