Egg Price Pushback: White House responds to high egg prices

The Trump Administration is taking a close look at mass cullings in the poultry sector, and it comes as egg prices soar.

Nationwide, the average price per dozen hit more than $4 in December, and USDA predicts prices will rise another 20 percent this year, according to AP News.

During the first press briefing of this Administration, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters they are already looking at policy changes.

“We have also seen that the cost of everything, not just eggs – bacon, groceries, and gasoline – has increased because of the inflationary policies of the last administration. As far as the egg shortage, what’s also contributing to that is the Biden Administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass culling of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore, a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage. I will leave you with this point: this is an example of why it’s so incredibly important that the Senate moves swiftly to confirm all of President Trump’s nominees, including his nominee for the United States Department of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, who is already speaking with Kevin Hassett, who is leading the economic team here at the White House, on how we can address the egg shortage in this country.”

RFD-TV has asked USDA when Rollins might be confirmed by the full Senate, and they do not have a date for that.

Related Stories
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew discusses the urgent need for aid as farm families face mounting input costs and long-term market uncertainty.
The new antitrust agreement between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) aims to enforce antitrust laws and monitor market activity across the ag sector.
Large carryover stocks continue to put pressure on commodity prices, creating uncertainty for growers looking to market their grain.
Peel says Mexico has a much greater capability to expand its beef industry than it did 20 or 30 years ago in terms of its feeding and packing infrastructure.
Record crops are increasing grain storage needs, prompting safety experts to remind producers of the risk of grain bin entrapment during harvest.
The impacts of the government shutdown have reached commodity growers with crops to move, ag economists monitoring the harvest without key data reporting, and meat producers in need of new export markets.

LATEST STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR:

Farm CPA Paul Neiffer joined us on Thursday’s Market Day Report to discuss the implications for farmers.
Chris Bliley with Growth Energy discusses ongoing concerns about U.S. ethanol exports and the expansion of market access promised under the Phase One deal between the U.S. and China.
“It does not extinguish right away here — in any sort of sense — the real profitability concerns and people’s ability to pay bills and get to the other side of this in the very short term. This is where the skepticism builds.”
RFD-TV tax expert Roger McEowen discusses the renewed tax provision and how cattle producers can take advantage of it to recover investments in heifer retention and herd expansion more quickly.
U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) shares his perspective on the U.S.-China trade developments and their potential impact on American producers, farmers, and ranchers.
Rich Nelson, a commodity broker for Allendale Inc., joins us to break down what the U.S.-China trade agreement means for the ag economy.