Farm updates: Eradicating screwworms; air detecting for bird flu; John Deere suit continues; Farm Dog of the Year!

Tusk-like mandibles can rasp the flesh of living warm-
blooded animals. (USDA photo via Successful Farming)

Despite its eradication from the U.S. in 1966, the New World Screwworm has returned to Mexico, which means the aggressive, flesh-eating flies could re-enter the U.S. 

While the NWS could prey on any warm-blooded animal, its return would be devastating for the U.S. cattle industry. Angie Stump Denton reports for Farm Journal, "The larvae can kill an animal in just four to seven days if not quickly detected and treated."

Experts believe Texas would be the most likely place for NWS to enter the U.S. from Mexico. In late April, after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins threatened to suspend cattle imports from Mexico to the U.S. as she did in November 2024, the two countries were able to agree on a strategy to control the NWS. Listen to more details on the NWS and USDA approaches for "complete eradication" here.

New bird flu detection sensors are fast. By testing air from exhaust vents, the systems monitor for
 bird flu 24/7. (ASC Publications graphic)

Bird flu remains a significant concern for egg and poultry industries as well as backyard and small chicken or turkey farms. The virus presents numerous difficulties, one of which is a lack of "any 'early warning' system," reports Alfred Poor for Offrange. "Testing requires a lab and can take days to deliver results. … A new detection technology can produce results in minutes and is designed to be installed on-site, right in the flock housing buildings, to provide continuous monitoring. … The system samples air from the exhaust vents from the animals’ housing. The researchers have described their results in a paper in ACS Sensors."

The new detection technology doesn't require any technical training to run and it's accurate. Poor adds, "According to the team’s own published results, the system’s results showed a 90% correlation with the standard PCR lab results."

Even though U.S. farmers can now legally repair their tractors, a lawsuit addressing John Deere's past repair policies and tactics with farmers will still make its way through the court system. "The Agriculture equipment giant must face a lawsuit by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accusing the company of forcing farmers to use its authorized dealer network and driving up their costs for parts and repairs," reports Mike Scarcella of Reuters. "U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in the federal court in Rockford, Illinois, ruled for now to reject Deere’s effort to end the lawsuit."

Deere countered the suit saying that "it does not compete in the market for repair services," Scarella reports. "The company also challenged the lawfulness of the structure of the FTC. … Deere alleged that restrictions against removing FTC commissioners illegally bar the president from exercising lawful oversight."

We don't know how we missed it, but it's our pleasure to introduce "Sirius," the amazing and lovable 2025 Farm Bureau Dog of the Year. "Livestock guardian dog Sirius is a 'hero behind the heroes' – a herd of miniature therapy horses that bring comfort to those who have experienced traumatic events," the American Farm Bureau Federation reports. 

The mini-horses that Sirius and his fellow Maremma sheep dogs help protect from behind the scenes have given people joy during some of their worst experiences. They visited families after the Sandy Hook school shooting and comforted victim families and first responders after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. They make people smile and laugh in children and veteran hospitals wherever they go. 

While Sirius and his fellow canine guardians stay home at the farm, they help owners Jorge and Debbie Garcia-Bengochea know the horses are safe. Jorge told FB, "The Maremma breed is intended to bond with the herd. When these dogs are on alert and watching the herd, I feel like it's a  24/7 security system."

Farmers are encouraged to enter their tremendous farm dog here for the 2026 award.

Quick hits: Racing cars with a 'twist;' egg prices slide; lower tariff for 'happy nut;' bird flu cases slow; PFAS trial

The Gary Wilson Jr. 2009 Toyota Yaris heads down the track. (Photo by Sam Wolfe, NPR)

Camden, S.C., may only have 7,800 people, but it hosts a raucous event where residents and visitors are treated to cars with bad rap sheets and crazy detailing. "The race cars roll into downtown like an old-fashioned circus . . . . A Honda Civic has a lawnmower, squirrels and flamingoes on its roof," reports Bill Chappell of NPR. "They're all here for the local installment of 24 Hours of Lemons, an endurance car race with a major twist: The cars can't cost more than $500. The series bills itself as 'racing for real people.' The 24 Hours of Lemons races started more than 15 years ago in California. There are now 23 races each year, from coast to coast."

Good news! Sort of. "The average price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 last month after reaching a record $6.23 in March," reports Dee-Ann Durbin of The Associated Press. "It was the first month-to-month drop in egg prices since October 2024. Overall, the average price of eggs of all sizes fell 12.7%, the steepest monthly decline since March 1984. . . . Still, retail egg prices remain near historic highs."

California farmers grow millions of pounds of
pistachios a year. (Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. farmers aren't the only ones grateful for a break from extreme U.S.-China tariffs -- Chinese pistachio lovers are also rejoicing. "Chinese consumers crave pistachios for their taste and health benefits, referring to them in a way that translates to 'happy nuts,'" reports Jim Carlton of The Wall Street Journal. "Since 2017, the value of U.S. pistachios shipped into China has shot up 20-fold from $42 million to $842 million last year, accounting for almost a third of the $3 billion crop."

Dairy trade between the United States and the United Kingdom has historically been skewed in the UK's favor; however, the new negotiation framework announced by the Trump administration "marks a crucial turning point as the U.S. seeks a level playing field with global dairy exporters," reports Karen Bohnert of Dairy Herd Management. "According to Gregg Doud, president of the National Milk Producers Federation, achieving a robust trade agreement with the UK is a vital step in correcting the current imbalances in the dairy trade."

Chickens, farmers and farm workers enjoy a reprieve from bird flu infections. (MedPage Today photo)

While not entirely explainable, "detections of H5N1 avian influenza have slowed in both animals and humans, but continued surveillance is warranted, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said," reports Kristina Fiore of MedPage Today. "Someone questioned whether there was seasonality to H5N1. . . .Todd Davis, PhD, chief of the virology at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said any seasonality noted in other countries 'primarily corresponds to migratory bird patterns.'"

The first PFAS, or "forever chemicals," personal injury trial will focus on plaintiffs who allege they developed kidney cancer from firefighting foam. "The trial, set for Oct. 20, could include up to three individuals who claim their exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) caused their cancer," reports Pat Rizzuto of Bloomberg Law. "In [an] effort to manage the nearly 10,000 personal injury cases that are part of the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation MDL 2873, Judge Richard M. Gergel, with the U.S. District Court for the District of S.C., established three batches of cases involving different illnesses."

The bird flu helped this egg company's profits soar, and now its pricing practices are under investigation

Egg prices remain high as one producer sees its profits
and stock prices surge. (Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. top egg supplier Cal-Maine attributes its soaring profits and doubled stock price to hen shortages caused by bird flu, combined with savvy business practices. Lawmakers and regulators aren't buying that response as the full story. Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal reports, "The Justice Department kicked off an investigation into the nationwide increase in the cost of eggs and is probing Cal-Maine’s and other companies’ pricing practices."

Cal-Maine explains its surging profits -- $508 million just in the first quarter of 2025 -- as the natural outcome of national egg shortages brought about by the severe avian flu outbreak, combined with its savvy production and investment strategy. The company's first-quarter profit was more than three times higher than the profit in its first quarter of 2024 -- $148 million. The company's chief executive, Sherman Miller, says, "He can’t ignore the rising animosity, and he’s ready to set the record straight," Thomas writes.

Miller told Thomas, “Someone has to get blamed for everything. They’re looking for a villain. . . . We’ve done absolutely everything we could do to supply every egg we could under circumstances we can’t control."

But what Cal-Maine can control matters because eggs aren't like other commodities. "The egg industry relies on contracts between a customer, like Walmart or Kroger, that wants to buy a certain amount of eggs from a supplier like Cal-Maine," Thomas explains. "Instead of producing all the eggs it sells in a year, Cal-Maine has historically handled spikes in demand by purchasing 10% to 25% from other suppliers on private exchanges such as the online Egg Clearinghouse."

Skeptics question Cal-Maine's private online exchange purchases. "Critics like Farm Action say that by buying eggs from rival producers on the Egg Clearinghouse, Cal-Maine contributes to limiting supply," Thomas reports. "This also can inflate prices because those purchases factor into the calculation for the industry benchmark prices, critics say."

Others wonder why Cal-Maine didn’t just "produce more eggs or decide to lower its prices during the avian-flu outbreak," Thomas writes. But company planners see the spike as temporary. "Historically, eggs tend to retail for $1 to $2 a dozen, and Cal-Maine executives say the sky-high prices probably won’t last."

Questioning Cal-Maine's pricing practices isn't new. "In 2023, a federal jury in Chicago decided that Cal-Maine and other big egg producers restricted supply in the early 2000s to raise prices, which inflated costs for companies that buy lots of eggs to make food products," Thomas adds. Several food companies were awarded $53 million in damages. Cal-Maine contested any claims of wrongdoing.

To prevent bird flu, farmers invest in lasers to discourage wild birds from flying over farm animal operations

Birds see the beams as a threat and avoid the area.
(Graphic by A. Dixon, Ambrook Research)

An increasing number of farmers looking to stop the spread of bird flu are using lasers to discourage wild birds from flying over poultry and dairy operations. Farmers have "sought to reduce the risk of their animals contracting the disease," reports Daniel Walton of Ambrook Research. "They know that wild birds such as geese, ducks, and seagulls spread bird flu along their migration routes, and lasers are becoming a go-to tactic for keeping them — and by extension, the virus — away from buildings or pastures."

Lasers work because birds rely on their vision to sense any surrounding threats. Walton explains, "Green lasers in particular are close to the wavelengths that birds best perceive in motion, and the beams likely interact with the green chlorophyll in plants to produce disorienting effects only birds can see."

Jake Vlaminck, a turkey producer in Lake Lillian, Minnesota, decided to start investing in lasers as a wild bird deterrent after "a bird flu outbreak forced him to cull tens of thousands of turkeys," Walton writes. A neighboring farmer introduced him to a "robotically controlled system. . . . Its laser swivels on a base to target dozens of different points in constantly shifting patterns, keeping birds from growing accustomed to the beams."

While Vlaminck wasn't sure the system would help, "he was willing to take a chance on anything that might avoid a repeat outbreak," Walton explains. "He set up two units in early 2023, before the spring migration season, and over the following year his flocks remained untouched by flu. . . . Minnesota poultry farmers have put in over 100 laser systems since 2023, some with support from a state program meant to prevent bird flu transmission."

Lasers may not be a "silver bullet" solution to stop bird flu transmission, but "for farmers who’ve lost entire flocks to bird flu. . .Gutshall says the investment can be very worthwhile," Walton reports. "He estimates that laser clients usually see their wild bird activity drop by 80%, with even further reductions when they add on other deterrents."

Americans will have to wait for egg prices to decrease; some are dyeing potatoes or onions instead

Dyeing Easter eggs is a tradition some families will
continue no matter the price of eggs. (Adobe Stock photo)

The price of a dozen eggs continues to defy gravity by going up and staying up, despite "a drop in wholesale prices and no egg farms having bird flu outbreaks," report Josh Funk and Dee-Ann Durbin of The Associated Press. "U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high of $6.23 per dozen despite President Donald Trump’s predictions" that prices would decline substantially. 

The continued spike in egg prices means, "businesses that rely on eggs might not get much immediate relief," AP reports. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins dubbed Easter "the Super Bowl of eggs" and reiterated that it may take a while longer for the price of eggs consumers pay to tip downward and balance with the wholesale market. In 2024, Americans spent roughly $45 million on eggs for Easter.

University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson "said the wholesale prices did not start dropping until mid-March, so there may not have been enough time for the average price for the month to decline," Funk and Durbin write. "And grocery stores may not have immediately passed on the lower prices."

Some areas of the country are seeing lower prices. Funk and Durbin explain, "At a Walmart in Richmond, California, a dozen eggs were $6.34. In Omaha, Nebraska, Walmart was selling eggs for $4.97 per dozen. California requires eggs sold to be cage-free; Nebraska doesn’t."

Myhometravels photo

In some areas of the country, Americans are getting creative with their Easter dyeing choices. "Videos on how to dye marshmallows, potatoes and even onions have begun to circulate on social media and news websites," reports Korsha Wilson of The New York Times. " For the first time in [this farm's] 40-year history of the hunt, the eggs laid on the green grass of the farm will be made of plastic, filled with a coupon for a free ride on their carousel."

The U.S. isn't ready for another pandemic, but it could happen anyway. As bird flu spreads, the threat grows.

Bird flu, or H5N1, kills between 90% and 100% of infected
chickens, normally within 48 hours. (Adobe Stock photo)

Whether it's high egg prices or the fear of another pandemic, many Americans want bird flu, also known as avian flu, contained and a long-term answer found. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., however, "recently mused about a novel way to contain bird flu, which is to let it 'run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,'" reports Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic. "This could involve millions of birds dying slower, more horrible deaths."

While studying birds -- not necessarily chickens -- that are immune to bird flu is important work that could help breed more resilient flocks, many scientists would not recommend letting bird flu "run through" flocks "because it would only give the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu more opportunities to evolve, which it’s already doing at what experts see as an alarming rate," Rosin explains. "So far, the outbreak has caused one human death in the United States and several others overseas."

Looking back, the U.S. government had a brief window to act and contain the virus in the spring of 2024, when bird flu surfaced in a small number of dairy cows. Science reporter Dr. Katie Wu explained to Rosin how the virus spread: "Instead, they let business proceed as usual and dairy cattle move all over the place throughout their lifetime. They gave the virus more opportunities to spread. That should have been a five-alarm-fire level of: We need to ratchet up this response and make sure that the virus does not move any further than it already has. And that did not happen."

Will the virus reach a tipping point from a growing concern to a full-blown epidemic? That point is uncertain and perhaps there are more important concerns. Wu told Rosin, "I think the right question to be asking is: How prepared would we be if this truly escalated to that point? And the answer is: not at all. Like, not even a little bit. It’s impossible to say with any kind of certainty, Oh, there’s exactly, you know, a 14.7 percent chance this is going to turn into a pandemic. . . .We can’t know those things. A lot of this is about randomness, about how we continue to respond, about just vagaries of the virus that people don’t fully understand yet."

Covid-19 and Americans' response to it still has many citizens weary from years of mask debates and misinformation wars. Wu told Rosin, "The public is still really fatigued from having to respond to all of that — there was a lot of trust in public health and science eroded during that time —and I think because of the nature of the slow burn of all this, just slowly percolating through animals, affecting certain farm animals, maybe sort of affecting some aspects of the food supply."

To read more about how bird flu could mutate into something much more harmful for humans, read Rosin's full transcript here or listen to the podcast. To explore a more complete snapshot of bird flu's effect on the the U.S. economy, click here. 

Opinion: New USDA leader says she has plans to trim the department and refocus it to help U.S. farmers and families

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she
aims to 'get back to basics.' (USDA photo)

The Department of Agriculture traces its humble beginnings back to 1862, when it opened with a commissioner and nine employees. Since then, it has grown into "29 sub-agencies with nearly 100,000 employees, and it reported its total outlays last year at $228.3 billion," writes Sierra Dawn McClain in her opinion for The Wall Street Journal. "Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins aims to get back to basics."

At the time the USDA was created, "more than half of all Americans worked on farms," McClain explains. Since the 1860s, the number of U.S. citizens who "work in agriculture has shrunk to less than 2%, but the USDA reaches into every farm, national forest, rural town, grocery store and school cafeteria."

Secretary Rollins sees herself as a bureaucracy trimmer and "says her broader mission is the 'restoration of rural America,'" McClain writes. "The government tends to ignore farmers, she says, except to impose 'burdensome and costly regulations that hamper innovation.'. . . She wants to ease off, and her plan to lower egg prices, announced in these pages, exemplifies her approach — offering services to farmers without rushing to add new requirements."

Rollins also plans to remake the Forest Service, a "USDA sub-agency that manages 193 million acres of land. The service faces a fiscal crisis that Rollins attributes to unprofitable forest-management practices and Biden-era wage and workforce increases," McClain writes. Rollins told her, “This is the classic case of government gone awry." 

As far as entitlements such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Rollins aims to "reduce fraud, establish stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients and re-evaluate the Thrifty Food Planants," McClain adds. "She wants to make sure the program continues 'serving the families that need it the most,' and she says she grew up in such a family: She and her two sisters were raised by a single mother making $5 an hour." She told McClain: “I will do everything I can to make sure that the people that truly need that will get it."

To read more about USDA plans for bird flu management, tariff responses and Rollins' approach to working with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary at Health and Human Services, click here.

A federal plan to combat avian flu has 5 parts, but scientists disagree on how effective the changes will be

Major poultry and dairy organizations back vaccine
use to control the virus. (Farm Journal photo)

The Department of Agriculture has been hard at work "hatching" a plan to contain and prevent further avian flu, also known as bird flu, outbreaks among chicken flocks. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins "released a five-pronged strategy and investment of $1 billion to combat avian flu and reduce rising egg prices," reports Dawn Attride of Sentient Media. "The new measures focus largely on fixing on-farm biosecurity gaps as well as push for a new poultry vaccine."

A large chunk of the USDA's investment will shore up farm biosecurity by "ramping up protocols to guard against disease spillover from wildlife — at no cost to farmers," Attride explains. "The Rollins plan is light on concrete details as to what exactly the new biosecurity strategies are," but it appears the rollout will lean on a set of biosecurity protocols created in 2016 as part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

In her Wall Street Journal commentary, "Rollins notes that of the 150 sites that followed recommended biosecurity protocols, only one was subsequently affected by avian flu," Attride reports. The USDA plan includes using "smart perimeters" to predict and prevent the disease from infecting flocks.

Not all scientists agree that "smart perimeters" can deliver bird flu prevention. Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor and expert in poultry disease modeling at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, told Attride, "[Smart perimeters] are a pretty crude way of assessing risk." Attride adds, "What works better, according to Pitesky: accurately tracking bird movement and holistically assessing different factors — such as wind or temperature — that might drive birds into this radius."

The USDA also plans to step away from its long-held insistence that infected flocks be culled; however, experts disagree on how that change will play out. Meghan Davis, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, would like more details on which "strategies will replace depopulation," Attride reports. Davis told her, "These stamping out policies have been in place for quite some time. There’s a reason it exists and one of them is animal welfare issues –– these birds get really sick… and [rarely] recover."

The new plan looks to incorporate vaccinating chickens against the disease. "The USDA has given conditional approval to a Zoetis vaccine H5N2 for chickens, but has yet to give the go ahead for vaccinating commercial poultry flocks against avian flu," Attride adds. But "many countries won’t accept vaccinated chickens. The U.S. is the second-largest exporter of poultry and should a vaccine be rolled out, the federal government would have to negotiate agreements with its trading partners."  

"The plan’s success hinges on industry adoption and global trade acceptance," reports Jim Wiesemeyer of Farm Journal. "Balancing effective disease control with maintaining poultry exports remains a critical challenge."

As egg prices continue to climb, one U.S. egg producer reports an 82% increase in revenues. What's going on?

Revenue increases at Cal-Maine has some lawmakers
and consumer advocates calling for an investigation.

Bird flu may not be the only reason U.S. egg prices are climbing. The massive profit increases at Cal-Maine, the country's biggest egg producer, suggest another reason for soaring egg costs. The company's snowballing revenue has some lawmakers and consumer advocates asking for an investigation into egg pricing practices.

"There is at least one winner in the current shortage," report Danielle Kaye and Julie Creswell of The New York Times. "Cal-Maine Foods, which controls about a fifth of the egg market reported that its revenues jumped to $954 million in the quarter that ended in late November from $523 million from the prior year — an increase of 82%."

Cal-Maine has quietly consolidated portions of the egg industry, which has helped increase its profits. "Cal-Maine has acquired more than two dozen companies since 1989. It and four other large producers control roughly half of the egg market in the United States," Kaye and Creswell explain. "The company’s net income surged more than 500% to $218 million, from year-earlier levels, thanks to higher prices, the lower cost of feed and acquisitions of other operators."

Meanwhile, U.S. consumers continue to pay more and more for a dozen eggs. "The concentration of egg production in fewer hands is raising concerns, stoked by previous findings," the Times reports. "Two years ago, the largest producers were found liable for inflating prices in the 2000s. Now, some lawmakers are calling for federal regulators to investigate the industry."

Alvaro M. Bedoya, a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, told the Times, "I don’t know what’s happening in the egg industry, but it sure as hell seems we should be looking into it and see if there’s anticompetitive conduct that is hurting consumers." Kaye and Creswell add, "Similar pleas from advocacy groups and lawmakers were made to the F.T.C. under the Biden administration."

Read about the egg price-fixing case filed in 2011, which went to a jury, here.

The battle over a chicken vaccination puts egg and poultry industries at odds

Chicken vaxing could help egg producers but harm
poultry industries. (Adobe Stock photo)

American poultry and egg businesses can't agree on a strategy to contain bird flu while protecting incomes. "The chicken and egg industries are at odds. The argument isn’t over which came first but about bird flu vaccinations," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "Egg companies are calling for a stronger government response to the bird flu outbreak. . . . They are also petitioning regulators to greenlight a vaccine that could be administered on farms, a sharp reversal from their position a few years ago."

Chicken companies, such as Purdue and Tyson, are not on board with a large-scale flock vaccination because it would put their $5 billion chicken export revenue at risk. Thomas explains, "Countries that import chicken products would cut off purchases of American poultry. Each country would need to sign off on the U.S.’s vaccination strategy before accepting imports again."

Despite the debate, the Department of Agriculture issued a "conditional approval to animal-health company Zoetis for its bird flu vaccine for poultry," Thomas reports. "The next step in the process would be getting commercial approval. Even if that happens, it will still take time to sort out trade ramifications, ramp up production and develop a distribution. For now, the vaccine "is not authorized for use on farms, and poultry producers can’t buy it."

In the coming week, the USDA is expected to "roll out a comprehensive strategy to combat bird flu, the agency representative said, adding that the administration is committed to safeguarding poultry farms and keeping egg prices affordable for families," Thomas adds. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox News, "This is going to take a little while to bring these prices back down."

Although a chicken vaccine would help the egg industry, delayed chicken exports would produce a chain of costly international and domestic trade problems. Thomas explains, "A backup in exports could lead to production cuts from major chicken companies, resulting in fewer grain and soybean purchases for livestock feed from farmers."

Sales are brisk at this little-known clearinghouse that sells eggs by the billions

 ECI trade currency is eggs.
(Eggleston Farm Fresh Foods photo)

A big hot spot for egg sales isn't at the grocery store. It's at a New England clearinghouse affectionately known as the "Wall Street of Eggs," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "From an office building in New Hampshire, roughly a dozen people facilitate the trading of billions of eggs a year, a task that shapes what Americans pay per dozen at the supermarket or for omelets at diners."

Who knew? Very few. Thomas explains, "The Egg Clearinghouse, or ECI, is little known outside the industry: It operates an online marketplace that allows participants to place bids on eggs listed for sale and see the results of trades. Only ECI members — farmers and egg buyers — are allowed to trade."

Given the plummeting numbers of egg-laying hens due to bird flu deaths, the business is a seller's market. "Last year marked the company’s busiest, trading over 2.6 billion shell eggs and 39 million pounds of egg product valued at more than $600 million." ECI doesn't dominate the "broader egg market. . .but plays a crucial role in providing eggs for those in need or having trouble getting them, and how they are priced."

ECI operations are similar to stock exchanges, using eggs as their currency. It was created "as an alternative way to price and trade the commodity versus larger exchanges that operated in New York and Chicago," Thomas explains. "ECI began brokering trades in 1971 and its board was made up of industry executives including Fred Adams Jr., the founder of the largest U.S. egg producer, Cal-Maine."

The notion of egg trading is unique among food commodities which generally don't rely on "little-known exchange service to determine their value," Thomas reports. "All trades are blind, and only after a deal does ECI allow the parties to know each other’s identity."

Even as egg prices climb, American consumers continue to pay the painful cost per dozen. "Consumers on average are paying about $5 a dozen, a record high and double the price from roughly a year ago, according to the Labor Department," Thomas writes. "Demand has remained steady despite the high sticker prices, prompting some restaurants to add surcharges for egg dishes and consumers to step up purchases of liquid eggs or substitutes."

To read more about the egg "stock market," read the full story here.

New bird flu mutation found in dairy cows worries experts. The variant causes more severe human infections.

Dairy cows have contracted a new
variant of bird flu. (Unsplash photo)

Two people contracted severe bird flu infections from a new H5N1 variant known as D1.1. In one case, the man died; the other person is still in recovery. Experts are concerned about this variant emerging in cattle and what its severity might mean for livestock and humans, reports McKenzie Prillaman at ScienceNews.

“Cattle in Nevada tested positive for the H5N1 viral variant D1.1, which has been circulating in poultry and wild birds.” the Department of Agriculture announced Feb. 5. This recent discovery is the first detection of variant in dairy cattle.

Over the past year, about 1,000 cattle herds in 16 states have contracted H5N1 variant B3.13. Most people who were infected with this version of bird flu have been farmers working with livestock, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 67 cases in humans so far, with no known transmission between people. 

The emergence of the D1.1 variant poses additional health concerns for cows and people. “Another concern I have is that when we are looking at disease related to [B3.13], this has been by and large mild. But we have seen more severe human illness with the D1.1," according to veterinarian and environmental epidemiologist Meghan Davis of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "I do worry that the clinical presentation in [dairy] workers and other people exposed to the dairy cows or their products could be different and potentially more severe,” 

Davis recommended more surveillance and biosecurity for farms to identify outbreaks among the cattle.

The battle for egg farmers is stressful and riddled with uncertainty. They are 'begging for a new approach.'

Egg farmers and their employees suffer when flocks
of their hens have to be culled. (Adobe Stock photo)

When bird flu sweeps through a chicken farm, its aftermath is sadness, stress and death. The extreme losses have some U.S. egg farmers wondering if they will ever recover.

"Greg Herbruck knew 6.5 million of his birds needed to die, and fast," reports Kate Wells of NPR. "The CEO of Herbruck's Poultry Ranch wasn't sure how the third-generation family egg producer (one of the largest in the U.S.) was going to get through this round of avian flu, financially or emotionally."

As a preventative measure to protect their flocks from avian flu infections, U.S. egg farms have invested "millions of dollars into biosecurity. Employees shower in and shower out, before they start working and after their shifts ends," Wells explains. "But none of that has been enough to contain the outbreak that started three years ago."

Unlike the U.S. bird flu outbreak in 2014-2015, this version of bird flu has proven impossible to contain. "It's so entrenched in the global environment, spilling into mammals such as dairy cows, and affecting 147 million birds in commercial and backyard flocks in the U.S.," Wells reports. "Egg producers and the American Egg Board are begging for a new approach."

Herbruck described the "virus as a terrorist," Wells adds. "Ten months after Herbruck's Poultry Ranch was hit, the company is still rebuilding its flocks. . . . Still, he and his counterparts in the industry live in fear, watching other farms get hit two, even three times in the last few years." Herbruck told Wells, "We are in a battle and losing, at the moment."

Vaccinating birds is a solution being used in China, Egypt and France. Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told Wells, "All the measures we're doing are still getting beat by this virus." Wells reports, "At this point, Metz argued, the industry can't afford not to try vaccination, which has helped eradicate diseases in poultry before."

Bird flu has sickened wild birds, cats, cows and humans. As more people catch the virus, medical experts worry.

People working with livestock infected with 
avian flu are at risk. (Unsplash image)

While every American has seen the effects of avian flu on egg prices, bird flu, also know as H5N1, has the potential to become a greater risk to human health, too.

At the moment, avian flu poses the greatest threat to people working with livestock or wildlife. The disease has been found to have a devastating effect on poultry, but dairy cows have also had high infection rates. “Sixteen states and 927 dairy herds have been affected,” reports Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder.

Farmers working with livestock can minimize their risk for infection by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), and those infected can get treated with Tamiflu. Carlson explains, "But at commercial farms, PPE use is spotty at best, according to Investigate Midwest reporting. Their investigation found that one-third of states with active bird flu outbreaks in dairy herds were not tracking the distribution of PPE, leaving it up to the farmers to protect themselves and their workers"

The spread of bird flu in smaller or more remote towns could prove difficult to isolate. Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician, told Carlson, “Our rural communities may not have the same kind of healthcare resilience [as cities], so if you have more than a couple of cases, my concern would be that we want to ensure that we can quickly make testing available.”

While dairy cows are having less deadly results from avian flu than chickens, the disease can also be passed through the consumption of raw milk from infected cattle. The Food and Drug Administration found that the virus is made “inactive through pasteurization.” Twenty-eight states are enrolled in a program that tracks the flu rates and addresses what states should do in the event of an outbreak.

As of Jan. 16, there have been "66 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the U.S., and one death," Carlson reports. Bhadelia told her, “The more chances we give this virus to potentially infect humans and to evolve within humans, it is possible that it might grow into something that’s a greater threat to humans."

U.S. consumers get smacked with another round of food inflation. Egg prices spike and other costs follow suit.

U.S. consumers endure another round of
food inflation. (Photo by 青 晨, Unsplash)

It's déjà vu for American food costs. The price of eggs and other grocery items are increasing while American consumers face another soul-crushing round of food inflation. U.S. grocery costs "increased 1.8% from a year earlier in December, rising at the fastest pace in more than a year," report Patrick Thomas and Jesse Newman of The Wall Street Journal. "The cost of food overall was 0.3% higher in December, after increasing 0.4% in November."

Why this is happening -- again? "There isn’t one factor. Bird flu is killing chickens, cutting egg supplies and sending wholesale prices to a record," Thomas and Newman explain. "Extreme heat and dry weather in the world’s coffee-growing regions have sent the cost of brews surging. Chocolate and cereal makers have raised prices for their products, too."

It's a problem. "Consumers are still acclimating to a stretch of bruising inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic," the Journal reports. "Grocery prices in December were roughly 28% higher than they were five years ago."

While on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to put a lid on grocery prices -- a promise that could prove difficult to deliver. "Some of the problems underlying food costs, such as disease and bad weather, don’t have quick policy fixes," Thomas and Newman add.

Even as egg prices climb, some egg producers are making hefty profits. "The index for eggs was up 37% from a year ago, and the average retail price of a dozen large eggs increased nearly 14% to $4.15 in December," the Journal reports. "Price increases have helped increase the profits of egg companies, including Cal-Maine, the largest U.S. egg producer, whose stock has doubled over the past year."

The price of meat has also increased but experts predict meat prices will level out. On balance, cocoa and sugar prices have surged. Thomas and Newman write, "A candy company recently said it would raise its prices by 10%." When asked about food inflation, Mark Skogen, CEO of Wisconsin-based Festival Foods, told the Journal, "It just doesn’t end."

U.S. Health and Human Services awards $590 million to aid development of Moderna human bird flu vaccine

Federal funding aims to accelerate
bird flu vaccine development. (A.S)

Despite the limited threat bird flu poses to humans, American pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Modena received a $590 million federal package to continue its development of a bird influenza vaccine, reports Sabela Ojea of The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department funding aims to accelerate the company's vaccine research as worries increase about a human bird flu pandemic.

Modena began a "study to generate safety and immunogenicity data of the bird influenza shot in healthy adults ages 18 and older" in 2023, Ojea writes. "The trial included vaccine candidates against two avian influenza viruses, H5 and H7."

Avian bird flu, also known as H5N1, has decimated some global wild bird populations and killed at least 20 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S. during the last quarter of 2024, reports Alexander Tin of CBS News. In March 2024, bird flu infections were detected in U.S. dairy cattle. Since that time, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S., including one death from the infection.

Quick hits: Wallet-draining breakfast prices; the 'Walmart effect;' rural short story winner; bird flu stats; shouses

Photo by E. Aceron, Unsplash

Budget-busting beef with eggs and coffee breakfasts won't be cheaper anytime soon. "While commodities such as beef and eggs have long been volatile, others such as coffee have jumped in price more recently," report Patrick Thomas, David Uberti and Elizaveta Galkina of The Wall Street Journal. "Average prices for food at home rose in November by the largest annual pace in a year. . . . Store-bought ground [coffee] roasts have jumped 11% in price over the past year to an all-time high." In slightly less of a buzzkill, pork prices have remained steady, and "the average price of white bread is down around 3% over the past year."

Walmart's motto is "save money, live better," but oftentimes, that's not what happens to places after Walmart moves in. "New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer — even taking into account its famous low prices," reports Rogé Karma for The Atlantic. "Walmart’s many defenders argue that the company is a boon to poor and middle-class families, who save thousands of dollars every year shopping there. . . .Two new research papers challenge that view." Read the research here.

Haworth's character, Michael, decides to venture home.
(Photo by Julian Scholl, Unsplash)

When one season of life ends, another begins -- or does it? Jeremy Haworth's short story "Blood Brother" explores Michael Riordan's path from retirement boredom to the uncertainty of going home. Haworth writes, "The sudden thought of home occurred to him. . . . Years had elapsed since he had crossed the threshold of the old farmstead. But the twinge in his chest told him time was shortening. The thought of death. . . an instinct to finally lay the ghosts of the past to rest. . ." Hadworth's story is the winner of the second annual “Best in Rural Writing Contest” presented by the rural literary journal The Milk House with support from The Daily Yonder.

The spread of bird flu or H5N1 in dairy cows has put many dairy farmers and consumers on edge. To help measure and mitigate the virus in cow herds, the Department of Agriculture rolled out mandated milk testing in December. The USDA is sharing its testing results with up-to-date graphics of confirmed bird flu cases, also called HPAI, found in U.S. herds. Over the past 30 days, testing found 182 new cases in two states. See the details here.

Shouses don't have to be small. This shouse is located in Okeana, a small unincorporated
community in rural Ohio. (Morton Buildings photo)

Rural landscapes have made room for country-living architecture that goes beyond barn-shaped homes and wood cabins. "Barndominiums" and "shouses" are dotting the countryside in surprising numbers. "Look carefully the next time you’re driving on the back roads of America, and you’re bound to spot a shouse — a hulking rectangular structure. . . . It could easily be mistaken for a machine shed," reports Dionne Searcey of The New York Times. "From the outside, shouses look a lot like the better-known barndominiums, or barndos for short. . . . It’s difficult to trace the genesis of shouses. . ."

'Fancy mechanic' Brienna Hall works for a company few have heard of doing work vital to maintaining all the tech in our lives. "The piece of equipment that the entire world has come to rely on — and Hall is specially trained to handle — is called an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine," reports Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal. "It’s the machine that produces the most advanced microchips on the planet . . . maybe the most remarkable thing about these invaluable machines is that they’re all made by the same company: ASML. . . . This one Dutch company is responsible for all of the EUV lithography systems that help make the chips in so many of your devices. Like your phone. And your computer. And your tablet. And your TV. Maybe even your car, too."

USDA orders testing of raw milk for bird flu to begin on Dec. 16. Testing is 'precautionary' and will aid virus containment

Mandatory milk testing will begin in six states
on Dec. 16. (Adobe Stock photo)

The Department of Agriculture has expanded its response to bird flu infections in U.S. dairy herds by ordering milk testing to begin on Dec. 16 -- "a step public health experts have clamored for following the detection of the H5N1 virus in U.S. dairy herds for the first time this spring," report Mark Johnson and Sabrina Malhiof The Washington Post. "The mandatory testing system is designed to identify which states and specific herds have been affected by the H5N1 virus." 

California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania will be the first states to roll out mandated testing. The Post reports, "An industry representative in Pennsylvania, which ranks second in the nation for the number of dairy farms, said monitoring efforts are precautionary. No cases of H5N1 have been detected in the state’s dairy herds to date." So far, H5N1 infections have been reported in 720 herds in 15 states.

The mandate includes raw milk testing by "dairy farms, bulk milk transporters, milk transfer stations and dairy processing facilities," Johnson and Malhiof explain. "Herd owners whose cattle test positive for the virus must provide information for contact tracing and disease surveillance. Private laboratories and state veterinarians must report all milk that tests positive to the USDA."

Overall, dairy farmers and processors "have been reluctant to test animals or milk for the virus as they fear economic or other repercussions," reports Rachel Dobkin of Newsweek. However, as the virus spread, some farmer sentiments have changed. Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, told Dobkin,"It's another step in the right direction. They're coming around that we need a better handle on it."

Health officials maintain that "the risk to people from bird flu remains low, and pasteurization kills the virus in milk, making it safe to drink," Dobkin adds. "Federal officials continue to warn against drinking raw milk."

Making sense of bird flu virus H5N1, from its risks to why there's reason to be hopeful

Bird flu H5N1 can kill chickens in 48 hours, but the
infection is less severe in humans. (J. Whitt photo, Unsplash)

As avian flu spreads among birds, cows, and people, understanding the virus can help lessen unnecessary worry and build support for virus containment, testing and possible vaccination efforts.

David Leonhardt of The New York Times demystifies the bird flu virus through questions and answers. The answers have been lightly edited.

1. What is bird flu?
It’s an influenza virus officially known as H5N1 (and sometimes called avian flu). It attracted global attention in the late 1990s after an outbreak among chickens in southern China. . . . That outbreak was especially worrisome because it included the first documented human cases of the virus. At least 18 people were infected, six of whom died.

2. Why the recent concerns?
The virus has recently expanded in two ways: across regions and across species. Rather than being concentrated in Asia, bird flu has moved across much of the planet. And it has infected a wider variety of animals, including mammals. Dairy cows in many parts of the United States have tested positive.

Most concerning, at least four people have tested positive without evidently having had contact with a sick animal. . . . These infections raise the possibility that the virus can move from one human being to another, rather than only from an animal to a person. Human-to-human transmission can lead to a much more rapid spread of a disease.

3. What are the reasons to be hopeful?
First, it’s not yet clear whether those four recent cases stemmed from human-to-human transmission.

Second, H5N1 seems to have become less severe in human beings recently. The reasons aren’t clear. . . . As my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli says, 'Very few people known to be infected with bird flu in the United States have become seriously ill, and none have died.'

4. How can the U.S. reduce the risks?
More testing — of birds, cows and farmworkers — would help. “We know very, very little about how far this virus has spread and how many people and animals have been infected,” Mandavilli said. Testing could allow farms to isolate infected animals and people.

What about a vaccine?
A vaccine for bird flu exists, but the supply is modest. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, believes the government should help expand production and make the vaccine available to farmworkers who want to receive it.

The bottom line:
Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, recently published a book on preventing outbreaks called "Crisis Averted." In it, she argues that one of the most effective public health strategies is honesty: Experts should level with people, rather than telling selective truths intended to shape behavior in paternalistic ways (as happened during Covid).

Piles of dead dairy cows in California show an industry that wasn't prepared for H5N1 bird flu's aggressive spread

H5N1 can be more deadly for younger cows.
(Adobe Stock photo)

After the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected in California in August, the virus spread aggressively and has infected at least 124 dairy herds and 13 dairy workers, reports Susanne Rust of the Los Angeles Times. "And according to dairy experts, the spread of the virus has yet to abate." The virus has killed dairy cattle at an "unexpected rate," which has left some dairies with roadside piles of dead cows awaiting rendering service pickup.

While roadside patches of dead cows are grisly, John Korslund, a retired Department of Agriculture veterinarian epidemiologist, said "there was probably very little risk to public health in having the animals piled up," because the virus doesn't last long in a carcass. 

Anja Raudabaugh, chief executive of Western United Dairies, "said although the dairy farmers she represents had been reading about the virus for months before it hit, no one was prepared for the devastation and unevenness with which the virus has struck California’s dairy herds," Rust reports. "She said on some farms, the cows seem virtually unaffected, despite being infected. While on others, the animals are dying in droves."

The virus' biggest toll has been on younger dairy cows, but farmers are doing what they can to keep them alive. Raudabaugh told Rust, “given the extreme rearing and raising and just expenses that go into raising these animals, there’s hope that on the other side of the virus, they will come back into production that’s sustainable for the farmer. So it’s definitely a last resort if they are culling them.”

Dairy farmers are concerned that even if a cows survive the virus, their milk production could indefinitely decrease. Rust reports, "The Department of Agriculture has a program to pay back farmers for production loss due to the virus. The program covers the three weeks of production lost by a cow when it is removed from the milking herd to recover, as well as the seven days afterward when production is still low." There is no protection for permanent production loss.