As the Trump administration released the first fresh information Wednesday regarding its strategy to combat avian flu and lower the price of eggs, the Agriculture Department projects that the current record prices for eggs might increase by more than 40% in 2025.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that USDA will spend an additional $1 billion to combat bird flu, which has cost the agency over $2 billion since the outbreak started in 2022, with a focus on strengthening biosecurity on farms. Earlier this month, officials had alluded to the proposal.
How much more farmers can do to prevent the virus is unclear.
Since the 2015 bird flu outbreak, egg and poultry producers have been taking precautions to protect their birds. These include forcing workers to change and take a shower before entering barns, use separate tool sets, and disinfecting any vehicles that enter farms. The problem is that when wild birds move past farms, they can easily spread the virus.
And the primary cause of the recent spike in egg costs, which reached a record average of $4.95 a dozen this month, is the killing of over 166 million birds, the most of which were egg-laying chickens, in an effort to stop the virus’s spread when cases were discovered. Almost 19 million egg-laying birds were killed last month, making it the worst month yet for egg growers.
Egg prices will get much worse this year
In addition to the already record costs, the USDA now projects that egg prices will rise by at least 41% this year. It was estimated that the rise would be 20% just last month.
Additionally, average prices hide the severity of the situation, with some locations charging customers more than $1 per egg. Customers are suffering as a result of the scenario, which has led both Waffle House and Denny’s adding surcharges to their egg dishes.
Agricultural economists at the University of Arkansas estimated that last year’s high egg prices, which have more than doubled since the outbreak started, cost consumers at least $1.4 billion.
Every spring, when demand is high, egg prices often rise before Easter.
When will the Trump plan bring down prices?
Customers won’t see an impact at the checkout counter for a while, Rollins said. After all, the process of getting rid of the carcasses, cleaning the farm, and raising fresh birds takes months for contaminated farms. However, she was hopeful that this would boost pricing.
“I think it will take a month or two to get through, but hopefully by summer,” Rollins stated.
Will DOGE layoffs affect the bird flu fight?
Despite all of the federal worker cuts at the command of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Rollins said she thinks USDA will have the personnel it needs to respond to bird flu.
Will we have the means to implement the strategy I just described? As we realign and assess where USDA has been spending money and where our staff are spending their time, we are certain that we will, she added.
Where s the money going?
In addition to $400 million in additional aid for farmers whose flocks have been affected by avian flu, the plan calls for $500 million to help farmers strengthen biosecurity measures, $100 million to research and potentially develop vaccines and therapeutics for U.S. chicken flocks, and an investigation into reversing what the administration views as onerous animal welfare regulations in certain states.
USDA already pays farmers for any birds they have to kill because of the virus, and about $1.2 billion has already been used for those payments, so it’s unclear what the additional aid would be for.
According to Rollins, the administration is also in negotiations to import between 70 million and 100 million eggs from other nations in the upcoming months. However, 7.57 billion table eggs were produced last month, so it doesn’t seem like those imports will have a big impact on the market.
According to Trump administration experts, immunizations might potentially lessen the quantity of birds that must be killed during an outbreak. Nevertheless, no vaccines have received approval, and the industry claims that the existing prototypes are impractical due to the fact that each bird needs a separate dose. Moreover, vaccinated birds may endanger exports.
The National Turkey Federation urged the USDA to consider all egg and poultry farmers, not only egg producers, but stated that the strategy Rollins presented should assist stabilize the market.
— Associated Press’s Josh Funk and Josh Boak
This report was contributed to by Aamer Madhani.
