OMAHA (DTN) -- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has talked a lot about egg prices since Friday, saying USDA will now be rolling out more tools to combat avian influenza, but also blamed soaring prices on overregulation by the Biden administration as much as the impacts of bird flu.
Trump administration officials spoke frequently during the weekend about changing the strategy for combatting bird flu. Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told CBS "Face the Nation Sunday" that the Biden administration focused on killing chickens, "and they spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens within a perimeter where they found a sick chicken."
Hassett said there needs to be more focus on "biosecurity and medication" to deal with avian influenza instead. "And so having a smart perimeter is what we're working on, and we're finalizing the ideas about how to do that with the best scientists in government. And that's the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago, and if it had, then egg prices would be, you know, a lot better than they are now," Hassett said.
WOAH: CULLING IS CRITICAL STRATEGY
The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) stresses depopulation or culling as a "critical strategy" for controlling highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in poultry. The WOAH noted there is no specific treatments for HPAI, which requires depopulation of infected flocks. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) outlines that mass depopulation is used "to prevent or mitigate the spread of HPAI through the elimination of infected or potentially infected poultry."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has detailed that culling infected flocks reduces the risk of "zoonotic" spillover from infected poultry to farmworkers or the public. At least 68 people have been infected by the H5N1 virus.
CHART SHOWS PRICE INCREASES
On Fox & Friends Weekend, Rollins pulled out a chart showing the price of eggs going back 40 years and the price spike that began in 2014 when the first stretch of avian influenza hit. The chart showed a significant increase in prices that began in 2021.
"Policy matters. Over-regulating matters. Putting too much cost into the market matters. So yes, avian influenza is a massive issue right now. We've been dealing with it in this country for the last few years. My very first briefing on my first day -- first half day -- which was Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening -- was on this exact issue. Next week we will be rolling out more tools in the toolkit to approach it, but this is going to take a little while to bring these prices back down after the last four years," Rollins said on Fox & Friends Weekend.
Speaking to Larry Kudlow on Fox Business News, Rollins said she wanted to understand why other countries are not having the same issues with avian influenza as the U.S.
"There are countries that don't have the same kind of cases of avian flu like we do in America. What are they doing? What are their best practices? How do we model that? And, ultimately, how do we get our egg layers producing again and get these prices down?"
POULTRY OPERATIONS HIT HARD
Just since the start of the year, 131 commercial poultry operations have been hit. That includes egg-laying chickens, broilers and turkey farms, affecting 32.1 million birds. On Feb. 14, USDA reported two egg-laying operations in Jay County, Indiana, tested positive, affecting 2.6 million birds. In Ohio, more than 8.9 million chickens have been affected in the last 30 days.
USDA on Feb. 14 posted the average price of large white shell eggs is now $7.40 a dozen for truckload quantities. In California, the price is $9.17 a dozen.
"Outbreaks of HPAI in commercial table egg-layer flocks continue to slow flock recovery efforts. Supply remains unbalanced and dependent upon the impact of HPAI on source farms as marketers whose regular suppliers have been impacted are working to find new short-term supply sources in a very competitive market atmosphere," USDA stated.
The standard procedure since the first avian influenza outbreak has been to depopulate a flock when the virus is discovered. Domestic poultry are considered highly susceptible to the virus.
In interviews Rollins repeatedly cited her own family and four teenagers. "I fully understand and feel the costs of this pain."
Rollins spent Friday night at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky. She also posted photos on social media of her touring a feedyard in Kansas on Monday with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas.
JOB CUTS AT USDA
Speaking to reporters on Friday at the White House, Rollins said she did not know exactly how many staff at USDA have been laid off. Rollins spoke about President Donald Trump's election mandate and the job of Cabinet members to implement that mandate. She said the American voters on Nov. 5 last year concluded the U.S. government is too big. She also talked about eliminating contracts tied to diversity, equity and inclusion.
"As far as the layoffs, I don't have the exact number, but yes, those will be forthcoming," she said.
FARMER CONTRACTS
Asked about contracts with farmers that are frozen, Rollins said, "There's a lot of questions right now among the agriculture community on where we are on the payments under the freeze. I am just getting my arms around that, but my commitment is that we will move so fast that if there are farmers that are indeed waiting for payments that have been committed to them, those will come forward.
"If there are farmers waiting for payments that have been committed, those will come through."
In a separate news release, USDA said Rollins had also:
-- Issued a memorandum to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and celebrations. "Instead, USDA will reprioritize unity, equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies," USDA stated.
-- Sent a letter to governors outlining her vision for the department and inviting them to participate in a new "laboratories for innovation" initiative to create "bold solutions to long-ignored challenges."
-- Sent a notice to state leaders encouraging them to participate in pilot programs to reform the food stamp program (SNAP). In particular, she outlined principles of reform, such as establishing more robust work requirements.
-- Delivered a video message and a letter of gratitude to U.S. Forest Service firefighters for fighting the devastating wildfires in California.
-- Reviewed and implemented findings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to optimize the USDA workforce and stop wasteful spending. "Already, USDA has identified more than $132 million in excess spending. USDA has terminated 78 contracts, totaling more than $132 million. Additionally, more than 1,000 contracts are currently under review. USDA has also identified and canceled 948 employee trainings, 758 of which focused on DEI alone," USDA said.
While stating USDA had terminated $132 million in contracts, the news release detailed about $4.2 million in contracts that had been terminated. Details about the other contracts have not been released.
Also see, "Forest Service, NRCS Among Agencies Hit by Mass Firings as USDA Cuts Jobs," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
DTN Political correspondent Jerry Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com
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