WASHINGTON — New US Department of Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins rolled out the agency’s $1 billion plan to lessen the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak and deal with the major increases in egg prices around the United States.

The USDA plans to invest $500 million in what it called “gold-standard biosecurity measures.” The agency will be expanding the Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments designed to safeguard farms from wild bird transmission, which is the cause of 83% of the HPAI cases.

The USDA will also provide free audits for producers affected by HPAI. The agency plans to share up to 75% of the costs to address growers’ biosecurity concerns identified by the assessments and audits.

Another agency approach consists of up to $400 million to indemnify producers who must depopulate their flocks to control HPAI spread.

In the plan, Rollins explained that the USDA will explore pathways for vaccines, therapeutics and other strategies to minimize depopulation. The USDA still has not authorized the use of vaccines for poultry.

The agency expects to work with governors, state agriculture departments, state veterinarians and poultry and dairy farmers on vaccines and other strategies to invest up to $100 million for this approach and determine where it could be used.

International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) president and chief executive officer Michael Dykes said the organization was grateful for Rollins investing in new and ongoing research into animal vaccinations and therapeutic tools for managing HPAI in dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks.

“We continue to urge USDA and its federal partners to act quickly to develop and approve the use of safe, effective bovine vaccines to guard against current and future strains of avian influenza affecting US dairy,” Dykes said. “It is essential that the federal government work with our industry to ensure a vaccination strategy is feasible and cost-effective for farmers while working with international trading partners to assure the use of vaccines does not limit or disrupt US agricultural exports."

National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) president and CEO Gregg Doud said the agriculture industry takes biosecurity seriously and thanked the administration for its actions.

"We support the department's initiatives to advance vaccine development and deployment that will help control, and ultimately eliminate, the virus in dairy cattle,” Doud said. “And we also want to remind consumers that, even as dairy farmers are working with veterinarians and officials at all levels of government to eliminate this animal health threat, milk for consumers remains safe to drink because of the effectiveness of pasteurization."

A vaccine from Zoetis was given conditional approval last week. However, poultry industry groups and other stakeholders continue to raise trade concerns with vaccinating flocks in the US.

Another step in the plan will be the possibility of temporarily increasing egg imports and decreasing exports. Turkey is expected to export 15,000 tonnes of eggs into the US until July, according to a Reuters report last week.

Rollins said the USDA would try to remove “unnecessary regulatory burdens” for the industry to help farmers and consumers.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Rollins said some of the money would come from USDA spending cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Following the initial plan by Rollins and the USDA, Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) expressed his thoughts on the initial plan from the Trump administration.

“Producers and consumers alike have experienced the economic burden of this outbreak since 2022,” Boozman said. “I look forward to working with USDA to ensure all poultry and livestock producers’ unique challenges are taken into consideration and they have the tools they need to address animal disease risks.”

The National Chicken Council also provided its support for the initial plan for the federal government.

“We applaud Secretary Rollins and the Trump administration for their desire and commitment to combat HPAI across all species — a common goal shared by US broiler producers,” said Harrison Kircher, president of NCC. “Particularly, we appreciate the measured and science-based approach for the potential use of an effective and applicable vaccine for laying hens and turkeys, and the administration’s commitment to work with our trading partners to minimize any potential negative trade effects should a vaccine ever be used.”

Kircher and the NCC brought up its petition to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week to provide up to 400 million surplus broiler hatching eggs into the egg-breaking market.

Numbers from the Economic Research Service at the USDA showed retail egg prices increased by 13.8% in January after rising by 8.4% in December 2024. The group predicted that egg prices would increase by 41.1% in 2025. Egg prices in January 2025 were 53% higher than in January 2024.