Trump’s got a bird flu plan. So when will eggs stop costing so much?

Egg prices are surging so high that the Trump administration is pledging to step in and solve the crisis — but don’t expect relief the next time you go grocery shopping.

Egg prices are surging so high that the Trump administration is pledging to step in and solve the crisis — but don’t expect relief the next time you go grocery shopping. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on Wednesday a plan to invest $1 billion in strategies to rein in soaring egg prices. Yet in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rollins acknowledged that it “won’t erase the problem overnight.” Rather, she said the egg market won’t stabilize for another “three to six months.” Egg prices have skyrocketed to all-time highs due in part to an outbreak of avian flu, or bird flu, that has been afflicting egg-laying hens in the US since 2022. Across the past three years, about 166 million birds have been affected by the deadly avian flu, according to the Agriculture Department. Avian flu has decimated flocks of hens and constrained the supply of eggs at a time when demand for eggs has been increasing, causing prices to soar, according to Brian Earnest, lead economist for animal protein at CoBank. The average cost of a dozen eggs in January was $4.95, almost double the price from a year prior and surpassing a record high, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Rollins said there is no “silver bullet” for tackling the avian flu outbreaks that are causing prices to soar — a sentiment experts agree with — and laid out a “five-pronged strategy” for bringing egg prices lower.