(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A press released Thursday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about the department’s response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, shows the nation imported more than 26 million shell eggs, counted by the dozen, since January, which is more than 10 times the amount imported during the same period in 2024.

Increasing egg imports, enhancing biosecurity, researching vaccine options and providing financial relief to farmers were all elements of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ plan to combat HPAI and lower the cost of eggs. Rollins said her five-pronged plan “has worked,” noting a 64% drop in wholesale egg prices and more than 900 completed biosecurity assessments at poultry farms across the country.

Rollins announced the $1 billion plan to combat the bird flu in February after three years of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu had eliminated nearly 170 million poultry birds and caused domestic egg prices to skyrocket.

From January 2024 to June 2024, the U.S. imported around 2.36 million shell eggs and just over 9.2 million egg products, according to an egg markets report from USDA. The USDA release said the U.S. had imported more than 26 million shell eggs, by the dozen, from Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Turkey, and South Korea and imported an additional 14 million egg products, measured in dozen shell-egg equivalents since January 2025. The USDA press release said the efforts to increase imports have helped to “bolster domestic supply” and said by comparison, domestic egg production in 2024 totaled 109 billion eggs.

Iowa remains the top egg producing state in the country and to date has lost more than 29 million birds associated with commercial table egg production impacted by HPAI, according to data from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

As part of Rollins’ plan, producers could have free biosecurity assessments at their facilities and receive USDA assistance for biosecurity improvements. According to the release from USDA, nearly 1,000 facilities have received the assessments, including 162 facilities in Iowa. Iowa ranked second on the list of states with the highest number of biosecurity assessments, behind Ohio at 214 assessments and above Pennsylvania at 144, Indiana at 129 and Missouri at 80 assessments. Of the assessments completed, 372 have looked at wildlife biosecurity according to APHIS.

The department also announced a grant challenge opportunity in March for research projects to support HPAI prevention, therapeutics, and potential vaccines. The Thursday release said the department received requests for more than $793 million in funding and the awards will be finalized in the fall.