USA Today: You color, hide eggs for Easter. Farms like ours are struggling to provide them.
The price of eggs have been in the news in the last few months, exceeding what we’ve been used to paying and grocery stores placing a limit on purchasing just one dozen. For egg-crazed Americans, that’s a substantial dent to the meals of everyday families.
For my family that has been an organic poultry and egg farm in Southern Georgia over the last 25 years, we take pride in producing quality food for American families. And with Easter weekend upon us, you may still find egg disruptions as you prep for egg hunts and coloring sessions with your loved ones.
So why have eggs been so tough to come by? For starters, the United States never recovered sufficiently or responded effectively when the worst avian flu in U.S. history his in 2022. Now there is another bird flu strain that has infected humans and caused egg prices to hit record highs.
The Trump administration has taken steps to aid egg prices. Some of which are temporary bandaids, such as the importing eggs from Turkey and South Korea. But the Trump administration’s ill-timed DOGE firings along with detrimental trade policies and tariff actions have made rural American communities – the heart of President Donald Trump’s support (93 percent of rural counties in the 2024 election) ‒ less economically secure.
A series of federal missteps include:
Farmers discovered that the very labs responsible for testing their flocks had been culled themselves with 25% fired in a mass layoff.
An insufficient aid package from the USDA in February a billion dollar plan to combat avian flu, which included $500 million for biosecurity, $400 million in financial relief and $100 million for vaccine research.
Dramatic reductions in food safety and health inspectors.
Counterproductive comments from HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. on letting the bird flu virus spread through flocks.
The shuttering of USAID, which closed the door on American farmers who had market access opportunities while also delivering much-needed global food assistance.
Then there were Liberation Day tariffs, which targeted our largest five agriculture markets, which will lead to foreign retaliation and decouple supply chains.
The tariff responses will be more aggressive at a time where inflation is still high and major American crops prices have plummeted.
I include bipartisan recommendations and opportunities for our leaders to help support vulnerable rural communities in USA Today, courtesy of Thuan Elston. You can read more about those recommendations here.
Two other call-outs to note:
Agriculture is not a monolith. There are some particular segments of the agriculture community that are cheering these efforts. But the vast majority are quietly dreading the upcoming season.
Farmers and rural Americans don’t want government handouts. In fact, they hate it. They want predictable markets and reliable opportunities to provide for their families and communities.
There is so much more that our leaders can do to support rural America. These current steps are counterproductive.