Current Events > USDA details new plan to tackle bird flu and lower egg prices

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/26/health/egg-prices-bird-flu-usda-rollins/index.html

In a new op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins outlined a new strategy she says will mitigate the spread of bird flu and lower the price of eggs a signature issue of the 2024 election.

Rollins says the USDA will invest $1 billion in the new plan, which will be paid for, at least in part, by Department of Government Efficiency cuts.

According to Rollins op-ed:

• USDA will spend $500 million to help enhance biosecurity measures to help keep the virus off farms. This can include restricting access to farms, increasing sanitation and improved hygiene. Rollins said USDA will expand a pilot program started under the Biden administration which sends USDA inspectors to assess biosecurity measures on farms.

• The US government will spend $400 million to reimburse farmers with affected flocks. The US already compensates farmers for the loss of their chickens. In December, USDA added a requirement that poultry producers pass a biosecurity audit before they could be compensated.

• USDA, which regulates vaccines for animals, is exploring the use of vaccines and therapeutics but it hasnt authorized use of any yet.

• The US will cut back on regulations on egg producers and make it easier for families to raise backyard chickens.

• The US government will consider temporary imports of eggs to reduce prices

Importantly, the agency stopped short of authorizing the use of a bird flu vaccine for poultry in the United States. US poultry producers have strongly resisted vaccinating their flocks because America is a leading exporter, and many countries wont accept birds that have been vaccinated.

The World Organization for Animal Health says vaccination may now be a necessary measure to control the spread of bird flu, which has moved from being a seasonal scourge to becoming a year-round threat for many different species of mammals, including dairy cattle.

Arent they abolishing the USDA?

• The US will cut back on regulations on egg producers and make it easier for families to raise backyard chickens.

lmao. This is gonna give us way more disease ridden chicken and eggs.

Tom_Joad posted...

Importantly, the agency stopped short of authorizing the use of a bird flu vaccine for poultry in the United States. US poultry producers have strongly resisted vaccinating their flocks because America is a leading exporter, and many countries wont accept birds that have been vaccinated.

This is a non sequitur.

The chickens that are for export are broilers (ie: chickens bred for meat), not the chickens bred to lay eggs.

Vaccinating the chicken flocks that lay eggs for human consumption is not vaccinating the chicken flocks that are raised for meat exports.

The two do not affect each other.

And that's the non sequitur.

If the chicken industry of America is using this logic, it's truly fucked, as the people in the industry cannot even think rationally anymore.

The answer to why they wont vaccinate is simpler than that.

They dont want to pay for it.

SaikyoStyle posted...

The answer to why they wont vaccinate is simpler than that.

They dont want to pay for it.

So pass it onto the consumer. The cost of the vaccine is in the pennies per chicken.

Hell, raising the price of each egg by 1 penny will pay for the cost of the vaccine.

I never had any issue Holy_Cloud105.

So if they use DOGE money where will the money come from when they are mandated to rehire the bulk of the fired federal workers?

Its 25 cents per chicken. Pay for it.

Holy_Cloud105 posted...

* The US will cut back on regulations on egg producers and make it easier for families to raise backyard chickens.

lmao. This is gonna give us way more disease ridden chicken and eggs.

But the same H5N1 bird flu that has led to the culling of millions of chickens, ducks and other birds in commercial flocks also has impacted backyard flocks in every state since the outbreak began in February 2022, including more than 20 states in the last 30 days, according to the USDA.
And while backyard flocks tend to be much smaller than commercial enterprises, they account for 37% of the 113 flocks where birds have been tested and confirmed to have bird flu.

https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/01/31/backyard-chickens-bird-flu/

Let the good times roll.

vycebrand2 posted...

I never had any issue Holy_Cloud105.

You may not have had issues with your chickens if youre raising chickens, but reducing regulations always amounts to scrapping health and safety regulations.

Wouldnt a better idea be to just put a 25% tariff on bird flu?

Surely this will lower the price of eggs

The_Popo posted...

Wouldnt a better idea be to just put a 25% tariff on bird flu?

Also deport the illegal birds that are crossing the border!

USDA details new plan to tackle bird flu and lower egg prices

Trump: Not in my America.
Elon: More useless government waste to get "DOGE'd"!

Holy_Cloud105 posted...

* The US will cut back on regulations on egg producers and make it easier for families to raise backyard chickens.

lmao. This is gonna give us way more disease ridden chicken and eggs.

unfunny. This will undermine all efforts to save the chickens.

CobraGT posted...

unfunny. This will undermine all efforts to save the chickens.

That's your admin bro.

CobraGT posted...

unfunny. This will undermine all efforts to save the chickens.

lol

Unknown5uspect posted...

That's your admin bro.

I voted! I voted for Harris/Walz and I donated money. I urged all the SOCIAL MEDIA anti-Trumpers to vote instead of just chanting. Did you even vote?

I live in the US so yes it is my admin and unless you live elsewhere --- wakeup call! It is your admin.