The U.S. Agricultural Division has introduced a brand new effort to struggle chook flu. NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Leah Douglas, agriculture and power reporter at Reuters, concerning the $1 billion plan.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Suppose egg costs at your native retailer are excessive now? The U.S. Division of Agriculture says that costs might rise greater than 40% this 12 months. Since 2022, farmers have culled greater than 166 million chickens to stop the unfold of chook flu. To assist ease the scarcity, the U.S. is importing 15,000 tons of eggs from Turkey, the nation. And on Wednesday, the USDA introduced it’s going to spend as much as $1 billion to struggle the unfold of chook flu. That is along with 2 billion already spent. Leah Douglas covers agriculture and power coverage for Reuters and has been carefully following the outbreak in poultry since 2022. Thanks for being right here.
LEAH DOUGLAS: Thanks a lot for having me.
RASCOE: Are you able to give us a way of simply how critical the unfold of chook flu is?
DOUGLAS: Nicely, for poultry farmers, it is actually a big problem. We have truly seen a number of the largest flocks and a few vital outbreaks simply in the previous few months. And so for poultry farmers, it is a main concern, and likewise for dairy farmers who’re seeing the virus unfold in dairy herds as properly.
RASCOE: And what’s the risk to people and different animals?
DOUGLAS: So the first risk to people proper now’s within the farmworker inhabitants that is working with the sick animals. So the CDC has reported 70 instances of chook flu amongst people previously 12 months, and the overwhelming majority of these instances had been amongst poultry farmworkers or folks engaged on dairy farms, maybe milking the cows. Past that, the CDC hasn’t but reported any instances of human-to-human transmission of the virus that will be extra regarding about its potential for human unfold, however they’re monitoring that very carefully.
RASCOE: And one individual has died from this?
DOUGLAS: Sure. One individual in Louisiana did die from chook flu final 12 months.
RASCOE: Is the chook flu outbreak – is that what’s chargeable for excessive egg costs, or is there extra to it?
DOUGLAS: Chicken flu is unquestionably a significant component. I used to be at a convention the place the Division of Agriculture’s chief economist was presenting on this problem. He mentioned that the laying flock – that is the chickens that lay our eggs – is down about 10% from the place the nation would need it to be to maintain up with demand. So there’s a actual provide constraint. There have additionally been questions on whether or not egg corporations are perhaps making the most of this second of constraint provide to hike costs larger than they actually have to be, and a few lawmakers have requested for an inquiry into that as properly.
RASCOE: What’s the authorities’s plan to fight chook flu and decrease the worth of eggs? What’s going to it entail?
DOUGLAS: Nicely, newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, on Wednesday, introduced a plan, and an enormous chunk of it goes to serving to farmers, significantly poultry farmers, enhance what’s known as biosecurity on their farms. So mainly, the efforts they’ll take to maintain wild birds that could be sick off their property to guarantee that technicians and employees and people coming onto the farm aren’t bringing the virus. So the company is placing about $500 million in the direction of these efforts of prevention, actually.
After which there’s additionally some effort that the company is taking to look into vaccination of birds, which is one thing that was additionally taking place underneath the earlier Biden administration. Trying into vaccines for chickens and cows in addition to one other kind of preventative method.
RASCOE: Nicely, about these vaccines – as a result of scientists have developed a vaccine, however I collect it is not extensively used. Why is not it getting used?
DOUGLAS: That is proper. The USDA hasn’t but mentioned that we ought to be vaccinating both poultry or cows in opposition to chook flu, and a few of that’s as a result of there’s nonetheless ongoing analysis. The company remains to be accumulating data.
The poultry business is split over whether or not to make use of vaccines. So the farmers who develop laying hens – they do assist vaccines as a result of as we have talked about, that is primarily the chickens which might be being affected by the unfold of the virus, so that they actually need that to cease.
The growers who produce chickens for meat have been much less impacted, and there is additionally potential commerce implications from vaccinating these animals. And so there is a divide within the business that the agriculture secretary has mentioned she’s nonetheless desirous about whether or not to maneuver ahead with a vaccine technique.
RASCOE: You have been masking this story for a very long time. What are the consultants telling you must occur to get this outbreak contained?
DOUGLAS: Specialists are actually telling me that this case is unprecedented. That was the phrase utilized by the USDA’s chief veterinarian. There’s a number of assist for a vaccine technique as a manner of actually attempting to stop this from persevering with to unfold. Farmers are already implementing biosecurity measures. And I feel there’s elevated consideration to, do we have to transfer to a vaccine, as a result of the efforts that we have been doing for the previous few years clearly haven’t managed the outbreak.
RASCOE: That is Leah Douglas, agriculture and power coverage reporter at Reuters. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us.
DOUGLAS: Thanks for having me.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its ultimate type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
