The Agriculture Department on Wednesday said it will spend $1 billion to tackle the bird flu in a campaign to address soaring egg prices that appears, in a departure for the administration, to acknowledge the importance of imports to keep prices down.
The USDA said it will use the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide the funding to address a virus that has sickened 138 flocks in the last 30 days. The aid will include $500 million for biosecurity measures, $400 million for economic relief to farmers and $100 million for vaccine research.
The department said its five-pronged strategy would also look at removing regulations on chicken and egg producers. The plan includes encouraging consumers to raise their own chickens and removing animal welfare regulations such as those in California that add to the cost of eggs.
