Rollins Addressing Food Prices A Priority

One of the top issues for new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is sticker shock many Americans have grown accustomed to at their local grocery store.

“Clearly one of the key issues facing all Americans right now, is the price of food and grocery prices,” Rollins said recent.  The secretary noted specifically rising prices for eggs.

So, what do those egg prices look like? 

“Prices are at a record high," said World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Mark Jekanowski.  "The Daily New York Shell Egg Price, which is an official USDA egg price collected in New York, recently passed $8 per dozen highest on record. What's basically driving these recent spikes in egg prices is that we've lost a lot of birds. Last year at HPAI and those losses continue this year down about nearly 20 million birds in January alone of this year. So, when you remove that many birds from a flock of just over 300 million birds, that tightens up supplies and prices respond.”  

Jekanowski added these numbers, courtesy of the WASDE, look at the year as a whole, meaning it’s not this exact point in time.  He also pointed out that USDA’s numbers do not assume additional HPAI outbreaks this year.

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