WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects the current record prices for eggs to soar past 40% this year.

The White House laid the groundwork Wednesday to try to stop the bird flu outbreak across the country and its impact on egg costs. 

“From deregulating to make it cheaper to produce eggs to repopulating,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. 

Rollins announced a new plan that includes the USDA rolling back certain pricing and transparency regulations to help farmers repopulate the more than 160 million birds culled since the outbreak began in 2022. She said the U.S. will also start importing eggs but would not say from where.

“We’re talking to three or four countries about getting between 70 and 100 million eggs into the country in the next month or two, which of course will help with supply and demand,” Rollins said.

The Trump administration plan became a focal point of a Senate hearing Wednesday with farmers about the future of the agricultural economy and the outbreak’s impact.

“It is a biosecurity nightmare,” said Tony Wesner, a United Egg Producers board member.

Wesner is also the CEO of Rose Acre Farms in Indiana, one of the country’s largest egg producers. He told lawmakers they have lost six million birds so far this year.

“That’s 25% of our current production,” Wesner said.

Wesner welcomed the White House’s overall plan but criticized it for leaving out other poultry producers.

“The turkey industry has been devastated by HPAI,” John Zimmerman, the National Turkey Federation chairman, told lawmakers. “And we ask that any plan also address the urgent needs of the turkey industry.”

Both producers support vaccination efforts to control the disease, but the White House plan currently calls for researching them.

“It isn’t a proven vaccine yet,” Rollins said. “And so I was hesitant in rolling anything out that would require more vaccinations without understanding first exactly would it solve the problem.”