Can the Department of Agriculture Make Eggs Affordable Again?

By Jennifer Galardi, Contributing Writer, The Kennedy Beacon

It’s rare that agriculture makes mainstream media headlines, yet the bird flu, or H5N1, is not only grabbing national attention in print, social media and television, it’s also causing deep concern among government officials and consumers.

It may be difficult to assess the extent to which the press is magnifying the crisis but there’s zero doubt that bird flu has resulted in the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens since 2022. Moreover, that slaughter has been driving the price of eggs through the roof – in some instances, to over $10 a dozen.

Nam Huh/ The Associated Press

Not everyone favors the mass extermination approach. In a report from Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo, Joel Salatin, also known as the “lunatic farmer” for his unconventional and entertaining presentations about regenerative farming practices, says mass poultry exterminations in the name of disease control are not only “irrational, but an assault on nature itself.”

Salatin notes that the agricultural industry is quick to blame the animals, when it’s actually the method of farming that contributes to disease outbreaks. “Any kind of production system that demonizes wildlife is automatically wrong,” Salatin says.

John Klar, an author, seventh generation farmer, and lawyer who for years has been advocating for farmers in Vermont, agrees with Salatin. “I have been watching for months as the ‘framing’ of cows as bird flu culprits has been fabricated by MSM – pictures of cows accompany a plethora of articles headlining bird flu scares,” he wrote in an email to The Kennedy Beacon.

Some people have compared the mass killing of animals during an avian flu outbreak to lockdowns during Covid. Fortunately, so far the virus has had a nominal impact on human health. According to the CDC the current risk to public health is listed as “low” – in other words, this is not a cause for panic.

But how best to approach bird flu remains a serious public policy change.

Photo by The Associated Press

Brooke Rollins, the new Secretary of Agriculture under President Trump, is working closely with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to rapidly find solutions. They’ve already reversed Biden’s practice of mass slaughter and believe this will significantly lower egg prices. They also plan to introduce alternative therapeutics that will both treat birds and prevent outbreaks.

Rollins recently penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal outlining a five-point plan to resolve the bird flu crisis.

Overall, the Department of Agriculture plans to invest up to $1 billion to curb the crisis and make eggs affordable again. Rollins said millions of dollars saved through Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts will be redirected to create long-term solutions to the avian flu.

In her op-ed, she writes that $500 million will be directed to increase biosecurity measures for poultry producers, to prevent contamination. She also pledged $400 million in financial relief to farms affected by the avian flu. And she notes that $100 million is being invested in research and development for therapeutics and vaccinations for chickens. In addition, Rollins cited deregulation – specifically California’s Proposition 12 – as overly burdensome to farmers, adding that importing eggs can also help lower costs.

Photo by Getty Images

Like Salatin, Rollins is against mass slaughter. In an interview in Breitbart News, Rollins stated, “we don’t have to kill 160 million chickens, which is basically what happened in the last two years.”

Many farmers agree that alternatives to industrial agriculture may naturally result in more robust immune systems for animals. Outdoor flocks have a higher level of immunity because they are out in the pastures as cattle are being rotated, exposing them to a multitude of a variety of pathogens according to David Stelzer, the founder and CEO of Azure Standard and a third generation farmer.

Klar attributes widespread disease among animals to an outsized focus on productivity rather than animal health. “What we are seeing is likely a consequence of decades of breeding for traits related to productivity: frequency and size of eggs, for instance, and fast growth in meat birds. Favoring these genetics may ‘breed out’ overall health and disease resistance,” he said in an email. Klar said directing bird genetic research to focus on disease resistance traits rather than size and quantity of output could help bolster the resilience of farm animals.

In a recent op-ed piece Salatin compared the current USDA policy response of killing mass numbers of birds to the Red Scare. “If we want to pin something on someone, if we look hard enough, we can find some infraction and put him away. That's the way bird flu seems to be right now,” Salatin wrote.

He also likened current policy to the treatment of people during Covid; today, PCR tests, he said, are being ramped up to 45 cycles, to discover bird flu detritus in healthy cows.

Stelzer told the Beacon that officials are fighting a losing battle, just like during Covid. “We’re not going to eradicate [the bird flu] by killing all the flocks. It’s a dumb move.”

Salatin wrote that the “conventional narrative wreaks of anti-science and fraud” and “[whips] the nation into a fearful frenzy.”

On the ground, Americans also have the price and the availability of eggs to worry about.

My local Whole Foods has been out of eggs for months. Other mainstream supermarkets on the East Coast such as Giant, Safeway, and Harris Teeter have limited supplies, particularly of the popular organic and free range varieties. If they are available, it’s difficult to ignore the significant price hike. Conventional eggs cost about $3 per dozen at this time last year. Now, they are almost twice as much, with organic and free range eggs from, for example, Vital Farms or Pete and Gerry’s often over $10 per dozen.

Photo by Getty Images

Nationwide, the average price of a dozen eggs went up 237%, from $1.47 in January 2021 to $4.95 last month, according to reporting in the Wall Street Journal.

The timing is unfortunate. The narrative of cholesterol in eggs as a causal factor in heart attacks was just beginning to be shattered and people were once again beginning to eat eggs, guilt free. Now, many are wondering how long this astronomical price increase will last and if they will ever again be able to enjoy one of the healthiest, most nutritious, and easiest to prepare foods without breaking the bank.

Animal Vaccinations

Both Kennedy and Rollins are warning that an avian flu vaccine might accelerate viral evolution and lead to higher risk of human transmission. Rollins said in an interview with Chris Cuomo that “not enough research has been done” to ensure a safe rollout of vaccines for animals.

“There's no indication that those vaccines actually provide sterilizing immunity and all three of my health agencies, NIH, CDC, and FDA, the acting heads of those agencies have all recommended against the use of the bird flu vaccine,” Kennedy said in an interview on Fox News published last week.

Breitbart has reported that Rollins has ruled out vaccinations for animals against the bird flu and instead will be focusing on repopulation of chickens and biosecurity measures. She said that she “pulled that off the table” upon learning how ineffective such vaccines have been in other nations, like Mexico. Instead, Rollins stated the administration would focus on deregulation, along with importing eggs from Turkey as a means to get more eggs on the shelves.

Even if a vaccine is developed over the next year or so, Rollins said that it would be completely voluntary – never mandated for livestock.

Farmers Concerns
While bureaucratic agencies and agricultural experts continue to debate ideas about how best to respond to the bird flu epidemic, there seems to be an opinion absent from those who might know the most about it – the farmers. Kennedy and Rollins have already reached out to many farmers and are listening to their perspectives.

Salatin said he favors allowing owners of poultry to determine their treatment. “What if I have a chicken that tests positive for bird flu? What if I say “no, don't kill the survivors,” Salatin wrote. He continued, “Let it run its course; I'll absorb the cost and risk of how many it gets, thank you very much,” Salatin wrote. As with many who wanted to exercise the same judgement with Covid vaccinations, this stance ensures informed consent. He writes, “I think before government agents kill my healthy chickens, I should be able to consent to their prescription.”

Stelzer claims some smaller farmers are using the “shovel and shut up” tactic to deal with government oversight. He doesn’t commend that strategy, as it is breaking the law. However, he said, “most of these laws aren’t really laws … they’re bureaucratic laws. Congress didn’t actually pass a law.”

Potential Treatments
Stelzer says that most of the time, government policy hasn’t taken into consideration a wide range of solutions to any public policy problem. “We should not have a once sized fits all policy,” he said.

Typically, those making demands on the farmers don’t understand preventative methods farmers could initiate to help make their flocks more robust. Stelzer believes there are natural remedies that can be used as preventative tools for increased immunity in animals. He states adding apple cider vinegar to chickens’ water keeps their microbiome active and immunity strong. He proposed it might decrease mortality by almost half. He also thinks small doses of oil of oregano and astragalus work very well to help with the general health of livestock.

Like humans, ultimately, a strong immune system is the cure, said Stelzer.

Klar agrees that more robust immune systems could help prevent outbreaks from becoming a persistent crisis. He believes giving farmers the freedom to experiment with preventives such as Quercetin and nutritional supplements as well as antiviral interventions including oxine, chlorine dioxide solution (CDS), hypochlorous acid (HOCl) are another solution.

Rollins appears to agree. “the research on therapeutics is going to be very important, perhaps pivoting away from a vaccine if necessary,” she has said.

Rollins also supports bio security measures to curb the spread of the avian flu. “We had 150 pilot projects that went in and said okay if we do audits, we lock the barns down, we pay for up to 75 percent of that locking down, of the 150 pilot projects only one has had a case of the avian flu hit them since those barns were secured,” Rollins told Breitbart. However, she said these measures must be taken in coordination with repopulation efforts and decreased regulation.

Klar said Rollins should be supported in her efforts to find alternative solutions while simultaneously allowing smaller farms, like Salatin’s Polyface Farm, to experiment with preventives and antivirals.

Stelzer said that while the government pays for the actions taken to protect the flocks, they currently do not cover the cost of repopulating them. Rollins recently stated that a portion of the $1 billion investment from the Department of Agriculture would indeed be used to help offset farmers’ repopulation costs.

“In many ways [what we’ve done] is a very short-sighted response to a problem that is probably going to be with us until the end of time or it will fade out,” Stelzer said. “Many diseases have cycles and they have come and gone and animals continue to survive.”

In the short term, however, Rollins says the new administration’s plan is already bringing monetary relief to consumers.

“We are on it,” she said during a March 11 interview on Fox Business. “Right now, today, good news is that the price of eggs seems to be coming down.” How far down? In some cases, she said, as much as $2 per dozen.

Good news indeed for millions of American families.