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With an emphasis on tightening up biosecurity on farms, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the USDA will invest another $1 billion on top of the roughly $2 billion it already spent battling bird flu since the outbreak began in 2022.

It's not clear how much more farmers can do to keep out the virus.

Egg and poultry farmers have worked to protect their birds since the 2015 bird flu outbreak by taking measures such as requiring workers to change clothes and shower before entering barns, using separate sets of tools and sanitizing any vehicles that enter farms.

The challenge is that wild birds spread the virus as they migrate past farms.

The main reason egg prices soared to a is that more than 166 million birds were slaughtered to limit the spread of the virus after cases are found — with most of those being egg-laying chickens. January was the worst month yet for egg farmers, with nearly 19 million egg-laying chickens slaughtered.

Egg prices will get much worse this year

The USDA now at least 41% this year on top of the already record prices. In January, the increase was predicted to be 20%.

The average prices conceal just how bad the situation is, with consumers paying more than a dollar an egg in some places. The situation hurts consumers and prompted restaurants like Denny's and Waffle House to on egg dishes.

The high egg prices, which more than doubled since before the outbreak began, cost consumers at least $1.4 billion last year, according to an at the University of Arkansas.

Egg prices also normally increase every spring heading into Easter, when demand is high.

Where's the money going?

The plan calls for $500 million investment to help farmers bolster biosecurity measures, $400 million in additional aid for farmers whose flocks were affected by avian flu, $100 million to research and potentially develop vaccines and therapeutics for U.S. chicken flocks and explore rolling back what the administration sees as restrictive animal welfare rules in some states.

It's not clear what the additional aid would be for because USDA already pays farmers for birds they must slaughter because of the virus, and roughly $1.2 billion went to those payments.

The administration is also in talks to import about 70 million to 100 million eggs from other countries in coming months, Rollins said. There were 7.57 billion table eggs produced last month, so those imports don't appear likely to make a significant difference in the market.

Trump administration officials suggested vaccines might help reduce the number of birds that have to be slaughtered when there is an outbreak. However, no vaccines have been approved and the industry said the current prototypes aren't practical because they require individual shots to each bird.

Plus, vaccinated birds could jeopardize exports.

The National Turkey Federation said the plan Rollins outlined should help stabilize the market, but the trade group encouraged the USDA to pay attention to all egg and poultry farmers — not just egg producers.

When will the Trump plan bring down prices?

Rollins acknowledged it will take some time before consumers see an effect at the checkout counter. After all, it takes infected farms months to dispose of the carcasses, sanitize their farms and raise new birds.

Still, she expressed optimism that the Trump plan will help prices.

"It's going to take a while to get through, I think in the next month or two, but hopefully by summer," Rollins said.

Will DOGE layoffs affect the bird flu fight?

Rollins said she believes USDA will have the staff it needs to respond to bird flu even after all the at the direction of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

"Will we have the resources needed to address the plan I just laid out? We are convinced that we will," she said, "as we realign and evaluate where USDA has been spending money, where our employees are spending their time."

Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.