(Bloomberg) -- The US is stepping up egg imports and boosting support to chicken farmers as part of the Trump administration’s response to the worst-ever outbreak of avian flu that’s sent egg prices to a record of over $8 a dozen.
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The nation will look to import between 70 million and 100 million eggs during the next month or two, the US Department of Agriculture said Wednesday as it announced a five-part plan with $1 billion in funding to address bird flu. The strategy also involves helping farmers protect birds from catching the virus and quickly rebuilding populations after chickens are killed or culled.
“Eggs are a disaster,” President Donald Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “We have to get the prices down, get the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things.”
Millions of birds have been killed just since December as the outbreak hit egg-laying farms from Iowa to California to North Carolina, prompting grocery stores to limit purchases and restaurants to add surcharges.
During an outbreak in 2015, the US imported more than 53 million fresh chicken eggs from countries including Spain, Canada, Italy and France, according to USDA data. Turkey shipped nearly 491,000 eggs to the US last year. Still, those are relatively small amounts — in January, even with fewer hens, the US produced more than 8 billion eggs.
“One of the key issues facing America today are the egg prices, and the president has made it one of his priorities from minute one that we bring those prices down for consumers,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
While the US isn’t ready to start vaccinating birds, Rollins said it will increase research into immunization and roll back regulations to help cut costs.
“A lot of the industry believes, on the egg-laying side, that we should, but it isn’t a proven vaccine yet,” Rollins said. “So I was hesitant in rolling anything out that would require more vaccinations without understanding first, exactly, would it solve the problem.”
The plan is a “doubling down on the agency’s ‘stamp out’ strategy” that has allowed the virus to spread since 2022, according to Jim Keen, director of veterinary science for the animal welfare group Center for a Humane Economy and a former USDA researcher.