New USDA Secretary says she's focused on reducing avian flu, lowering high egg prices
Less than two weeks on the job, the new Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is focused on the avian flu that has wiped out millions of chickens and raised the price of a dozen eggs to nearly $5. That's a 53% jump from one year ago.
The USDA warns egg prices could rise another 41% this year.
In an interview with CBS News Texas Monday, Rollins said, "Day one I'm sworn in and go to my new office at USDA headquarters in Washington and the very first briefing I have is on the avian flu."
Rollins said she wants to work with governors and veterinarians across the country on ways to solve the problem including looking at vaccines and therapeutics.
"We've been working together night and day to put together what we believe to be a good plan," said Rollins. "There's no short-term fix. If there were, it would have been addressed under the last administration."
Rollins traveled to Mount Pleasant on Monday, about two and a half hours east of Dallas where she met with nearly two dozen members of the agriculture industry. Most of them said their top concerns are avian flu and biosecurity.
She told the roundtable, "Certainly our country is facing the worst case of avian flu."
Sherman Miller, CEO of Cal Maine Foods, the number one producer and distributor of fresh eggs in the U.S. said the avian flu has hit the industry very hard.
"It takes one chicken for every person in the U.S. to have ample supply and we're at about a 50 million bird deficit," said Miller.
Getting those numbers back up he said will take a lot of people working together.
Rollins said the change in administrations will make a difference.
"I think though what perhaps is different now than in the last administration is we move at light speed," said Rollins. "President Trump has no patience for long, bureaucratic processes. So, my goal is to move at that light speed but to marry that with what is the safest, the best way to protect our food supply."
When asked how quickly she thinks egg prices will come down she said, "This is more of a long-term solution but what I can say is that those prices should start coming down maybe this spring, this summer as we work to implement some of these bigger picture solutions. Once we're past Easter, then we'll hopefully have some really good solutions for the American people."
Rollins also said her agency will also reduce regulations on the poultry industry, which she believes will lead to lower egg prices.
Her visit comes as the Trump administration has fired thousands of employees, including in her department, as way to slash spending. CBS News Texas asked her what she would say to the employees who lost their jobs.
"For me, these are real people who have served hopefully well for some of them years and years and so that's not an easy thing to do," Rollins said. "So, while painful and imperfect, it is important that we go through this process if there's any chance of right-sizing the government which most people in this country think is too big."
The USDA said employees working on the avian flu issue have been exempted from the firings.
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Watch Jack's full interview with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins:
