Brooke Rollins, the presidential nominee to become the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, said fighting animal disease such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) will be one of her biggest priorities should she be confirmed to lead the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In her opening statement during a hearing with the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry committee, animal disease was the second concern she mentioned.
“We must work with the great men and women of USDA, the stakeholder communities and state leaders … to immediately and comprehensively get a handle on the state of animal disease outbreaks,” Rollins said.
Not long after Rollins made those comments, the committee’s ranking member, who represents the nation’s largest turkey-producing state, inquired about HPAI.
“Since 2022, the most recent outbreak of avian flu has devastated poultry producers, spread to dairy cattle, resulted in at least one (human) death, (and) we’re starting to see certain prices attributed to that,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota. “If confirmed how do you ensure that farmers have the resources they need to combat the spread of this virus?”
Rollins responded by saying, “There is no doubt that the community we all work for, not just America, but the entire world, relies on an abundant, safe and secure food supply.”
She cited the recent “devastation in Georgia just over the last few weeks with the poultry outbreak and the depopulation there of our poultry,” highlights the need to have a strong fight against animal disease.
“There is a lot that I have to learn on this, and as I mentioned in my opening statement, one of the very top priorities,” said Rollins. “We are hyper-focused on finding the team right now. I’m sure they’re already working. I have obviously respected the process and not gotten too involved, but I know that the current team and the future team will be working hand-in-hand to do everything we can on animal disease.”
Rollins touted her “deep background working in state policy” and said her history of working very closely with state governors and agriculture commissioners will help with needed inter-agency cooperation for disease response and prevention.
Klobuchar also raised concerns about the presidential administration’s new announcement that will “halt external public health communications” from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding avian influenza and other diseases.
“These important health announcements have helped keep producers up to date with the latest information on disease spread and health of workers. And while I know that wasn’t under the USDA, I urge you to talk to them about that. We’re concerned,” Klobuchar said.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
