(NewsNation) — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled a nearly $1 billion plan to address soaring egg prices caused by an ongoing bird flu outbreak while defending the Trump administration’s tariff policies.
“We had a pretty massive five-point plan,” Rollins said Wednesday on NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” explaining the administration’s strategy after just one week in office.
The plan includes $500 million for biosecurity measures to “lock the barns down” and initiatives to repopulate flocks after what she described as the depopulation of nearly 160 million birds under the Biden administration.
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Egg prices have nearly doubled in the last six weeks, with the average cost of a dozen cracking $8 last week, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture.
The average egg price is now at $8.03 per dozen, up from a previous price of $7.74 per dozen reported in the USDA’s Egg Markets Overview on Feb. 14.
Rollins outlined additional measures, including regulatory relief for chicken farmers, an agreement to import approximately 70 million eggs from Turkey and funding for vaccine and therapeutic research.
She said vaccines were not being rushed into use without proper research.
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The agriculture secretary pushed back against criticism that the current egg price spike was solely the result of avian flu, presenting a chart showing price fluctuations over 40 years.
She attributed the current situation to “the high cost of inputs, the unbelievable amount of regulation, the shutting down of our export markets.”
“The president is with our agg community,” Rollins said. “While the next short term may be slightly unpredictable … for the long term, what the president has said is that our agg community will be more prosperous than perhaps it’s been in our entire lifetime.”
The industry, and most experts, squarely blame bird flu for the soaring egg prices. More than 166 million birds have been slaughtered to contain the virus. Some 30 million egg layers have been wiped out just since January, significantly disrupting egg supplies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
