The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced an investment of up to one billion dollars and a five-pronged strategy to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza (IPAI) throughout the country. U.S Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says the comprehensive strategy will be used for biosecurity measures, financial relief for affected farmers, vaccine research, and explore temporary import options to reduce burdens on Americans. Of the one billion dollars, $500 million will be utilized for biosecurity, expanding the Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments, deploying 20 trained epidemiologists for free audits on all HPAI-affected farms. Producers will continue to be compensated through Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for losses, while working to create new programs to aid accelerated repopulation with the USDA covering up to $400 million of these costs for the remainder of this fiscal year. The rest of the funding will be used to remove unnecessary regulations to safely expand supply in the commercial market, work to develop a vaccine and to explore temporary import and export options to reduce costs on consumers. Rollins says “The Biden administration did little to address the repeated outbreaks and high egg prices that followed. By contrast, the Trump administration is taking the issue seriously. American farmers need relief and American consumers need affordable food. To every family struggling to buy eggs: We hear you, we’re fighting for you, and help is on the way.” Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Hull) praises the announcement, thanking Rollins for her rapid work and response to the bird flu outbreak, and looks forward to working with USDA and the Trump administration to prevent and mitigate the spread of the disease. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Naig, mirrored a similar reaction as Feenstra, saying he is grateful for Rollins and USDA for making this issue a top priority and looks forward to working in partnership with the USDA to create a modern and effective HPAI response strategy. Rollins announced and detailed out the plan today (Wednesday) in a meeting with state agriculture department leaders.
