As egg prices continue to soar due to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced a multi-pronged strategy to combat the disease, including efforts to remove a popular animal welfare law approved in 2018 a popular animal welfare voter in California.
In the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote that egg prices have risen 237% since January 2021 – from the national average of $1.47 per dozen to $4.95, creating the responsibility for twelve eggs – for bird flu and bird flu and biden the Bigen abit.
Rollins said in an effort to “restore stability to the egg market in the next three to six months,” he said, saying the USDA would invest nearly $1 billion to curb the crisis and make eggs affordable again. ”
Rollins wrote that with the help of Elon Musk’s government efficiency department, the USDA will cut “hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted spending” and redirect that funding to “long-term solutions to bird flu.” These efforts will include investing in new biosecurity measures to provide financial relief to farmers who have lost their sheep and exploring “vaccines and therapeutic agents for chickens.”
And, in California (the average price of twelve eggs has reached nearly $9), the agency will target the 12th, which Rollins described as “overrestricted.”
The 2018 vote measure, known as the Prevention of Abuse of Farm Animals Act, has set up minimum spatial requirements for veal-raised eggs, breeding pigs and calves.
Laws prohibit California businesses from selling eggs from chickens that do not meet the requirements, forcing California farmers and out-of-state suppliers to comply with the law. Although the law was challenged by the North American Meat Institute in 2021, which believes the law violates commercial terms of the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The prospect of eliminating the law has attracted the attention of some farmers, researchers and legal scholars.
California Poultry Federation President Bill Mattos said that although he and his organization “commended” Rollins and the Trump administration to fight bird flu in all poultry species, they found a comment about the 12th about No. 12.
Over the past few years, California egg farm breeders have spent millions of dollars to upgrade and adapt to their farms, Mattos said. Reversing the law would put California poultry farmers and all other egg producers sold to California at a huge economic disadvantage. Most egg farms now have no cages, he said, which makes most poultry businesses untenable. He said they had to invest millions of dollars in cages and re-adapt their facilities for such operations.
“This is not a constructive solution for bird flu, but a massive dissolution plan for the accepted and mainstream production strategies of the U.S. egg industry,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for Action on Animal Health and Humane Economy. Several states, including Massachusetts, Nevada and Colorado, have similar laws, he said.
Veterinarian and UC Davis poultry expert Maurice Pitesky said the USDA was not surprised to target the 12-proposition.
It’s simple economics, he said: the law reduces supply, so prices rise. “California cannot provide more supply as easily as states without these welfare laws,” he said.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, said the agency could not do it without Congress.
He said Congress could pass a federal statute that “including state laws that voters pass through initiatives, including one state law.” Additionally, it can give the USDA the authority to authorize the law.
But will change the law actually have any impact on the supply or price of eggs?
Daniel Sumner, a professor of agriculture and resource economics at UC Davis, doesn’t think so.
“Pillar. 12 is not primarily related to bird flu, and bird flu has nothing to do with the 12 effects of props,” he said in an email.
“A generation ago, California was a big egg state and transported the eggs out,” he said. But egg production in the state gradually declined. In 2024, California produced 3 or 4% eggs and 10% cage-free eggs, accounting for one-third of U.S. eggs. He said 70% of the eggs consumed in California are imported from other states.
He said there is no indication that cage-free is more or less susceptible to the virus.
He said last December, the share of the bird flu outbreak in the United States was disproportionate. But in January, states like Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina are mostly flocks of cages.
However, the law does make it easier for California consumers to bid, because when bird flu does hit cageless flocks, consumers here have no choice to transfer to cage eggs. More options can reduce price flux. ”
