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Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Centers for Animal Health in Ames flummoxed a leading veterinary immunologist on the front lines of the burgeoning pandemic.
Jim Roth, director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, expressed frustration with over 50 employees being escorted out of the Ames campus.
The facility serves as the national forefront of foreign disease diagnostics and research for livestock vaccines, including the current research and development of a vaccine for bird flu. The center also conducts vaccine regulation, screenings and testing of milk samples to detect bird flu. Roth was displeased.
“The Secretary of Agriculture is quoted as saying they’re letting non-essential people go. Does she think animal caretakers aren’t essential? They just walked them out of the building,” Roth said in a phone interview of newly-sworn USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, who welcomed President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce spending across all government agencies. The USDA is “aggressively” eliminating all non-essential positions, the agency says. “Who’s going to take care of all the animals? Does she even have an understanding?” Roth said.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig did not respond to a request for comment on the layoffs of the Ames employees.
Last week it was reported that 200,000 “probationary” employees across the federal government's many agencies were among the latest federal employees to be affected by the sweeping layoffs throughout the government. Animal caretakers were said to be disproportionately affected by the layoffs in Ames. The National Centers for Animal Health works hand-in-hand with Iowa State in its fight against avian influenza.
”They say that it’s non-essential, but then they just go across the board and cut out anybody who’s in a probationary period, because they’re easy to fire,” Roth continued.
Roth also expressed frustration with President Trump and Elon Musk, saying they don’t understand the importance of animal health and its relationship with avian influenza, the primary driver of increasing egg prices. The layoffs came a week before Rollins announced a $1 billion campaign to combat avian influenza and lower egg prices.
Roth views the federal government’s efforts as counterproductive.
“They’re firing whoever they can. It doesn’t matter what their job is and how good they are. I know a lot of these people. They work hard and they’re very good people and they’re just being let go. Then who’s going to do their jobs which are essential?” Roth said.
Roth also told the Times Pilot on Wednesday that it will likely be a few weeks before the real ramifications of these terminations become apparent.
“They don’t have enough scientists, technicians and animal care personnel to conduct the essential research, diagnostics and vaccine evaluation to protect animal agriculture,” Roth said.
Roth explained that the layoffs are likely to slow down and impair that ability to diagnose diseases like bird flu and other “concerning diseases” like brucellosis and tuberculosis, along with other diseases that need to be diagnosed
“I know the vaccine industry is concerned. Will they be able to get their new vaccines approved? The USDA also has to release every new serial of vaccine, every new batch of vaccine, they have to look at the data and release it,” he said. “Will they be able to do that in a timely manner?”
The layoffs of NCAH employees came following a wake of concern about the livelihood of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Services National Animal Disease Center, which severely lacks necessary staffing and funding.
The NCAH is a combined operation of ARS NADC and other veterinary research agencies — including the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Veterinary Services Laboratories.
Last September, a meeting among many members of the NADC – including Roth – was held to address the urgent need for funding across the agency in order to continue conducting vital research.
The NADC is the nation’s leading research facility for livestock health and offers support to the $259 billion U.S. livestock and poultry industry. The agency conducts “cutting-edge” vaccine research and is responsible for a plethora of safeguarding measures to control and prevent infectious disease in animals, according to supporting data from the September meeting.
The agency has shrunk by nearly half since 1961, going from 80 to 43 scientists in 60 years.
”The National Animal Disease Center was already seriously understaffed. They got a new $460 million facility in 2009, and since then, their operating budget has not been nearly enough to carry out their responsibilities,” Roth said.
In recent years, funding for research staff and facility operations at the NADC have decreased significantly and are now considered to be “critical”
The dramatic erosion of the NADC’s funding is largely attributed to reduced investment in agricultural research in the U.S., along with changes in standards for practices like biocontainment, environmental regulations, general animal care and equipment requirements. Such factors have resulted in increased price tags for agencies that want to conduct research.
Inflation has also played a role in tightening the purse strings of the NADC.
At its current status, long-standing research programs for a variety of illnesses can’t continue if increased investments aren’t made.
September’s meeting and supplemental report shows that the NADC is not the only agency that is experiencing a lack in funding.
According to research supported by the USDA Economic Research Service, public spending on agricultural research and development during the 20th and into the 21st century has generated an average of $20 of economic benefit for every dollar spent.
As of 2019, spending for public agricultural research and development totaled around $5.16 billion, one-third lower than the $7.64 billion peak it reached in 2002. In contrast, many other countries have maintained spending on agricultural research and development with China leading as the world’s largest funder.
“They’re firing whoever they can. It doesn’t matter what their job is and how good they are." - Jim Roth, director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University
“I’m very disappointed in our senators and representatives in Washington, our governor, our state-house representatives and senators, they’re not speaking out,” Roth said. “I know they understand the importance of vaccines and animal health research to Iowa, and they’re not speaking out against what’s going on.”
Roth emphasized the importance of local and state leaders speaking out and standing against the sweeping measures being taken by President Trump.
“Iowa has lost over 30 million chickens and turkeys since the outbreak began. And what are they doing? They’re letting go of the people that are needed to control it, it’s just terrible,” he said. “Our national and local politicians must speak out, otherwise Trump and Musk are not aware of the impact they’re having on animal agriculture.”
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal outlining the five steps the USDA will take to combat avian influenza and lower egg prices.
Rollins noted that egg prices have risen over 200% in the past four years — going from an average of $1.47 in January 2021 to nearly $5 in January 2025.
”This is due in part to continuing outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which has devastated American poultry farmers and slashed the egg supply over the past two years,” she wrote. “The Biden administration did little to address the repeated outbreaks and high egg prices that followed. By contrast, the Trump administration is taking the issue seriously.”
Since 2022, an estimated 166 million laying hens have been culled as a result of avian flu infections across the country.
Rollins goes on to detail the USDA’s investment of up to $1 billion to curb the “crisis” of bird flu and in turn, bring egg prices down. She also plans to work with the Department of Government Efficiency to “cut hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending.”
The “five-pronged strategy” largely focuses on providing financial support to U.S. egg producers, developing vaccines and finding ways to lower egg prices for consumers.
Rollins’ first “prong” notes that the USDA will dedicate up to $500 million to help domestic poultry producers implement “gold-standard” biosecurity measures.
Biosecurity has already become especially stringent as the bird flu outbreak continues. Former USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack credited improved biosecurity for the second avian influenza outbreak being less severe than the first in 2015.
“The poultry producers are already working very hard on biosecurity,” Roth told the Times Pilot. “It’s much better than the 2015 outbreak, but there are so many wild birds infected that it is very difficult to stop.”
Another roughly $400 million will be distributed to farmers who had flocks affected by the virus and will help them begin operations again.The USDA will put the final $100 million toward researching and developing vaccines and other animal-safe treatments for the virus.
“There are no medications for avian influenza. Recently one vaccine was conditionally approved, but there are major, complex issues that need to be resolved before it can be used,” Roth noted.
On Feb. 13, the USDA “conditionally approved” a vaccine by animal health company Zoetis for use on poultry.
Rollins concluded her op-ed by stating that the final prongs of the USDA’s strategy would focus on taking action to decrease egg prices, including the removal of “unnecessary regulatory burdens” on egg producers and the possibility of importing eggs.
”This five-point strategy won’t erase the problem overnight, but we’re confident that it will restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months,” she wrote. “This approach will also ensure stability over the next four years and beyond.
“American farmers need relief, and American consumers need affordable food. To every family struggling to buy eggs: We hear you, we’re fighting for you, and help is on the way.”
Secretary Naig also released a statement Wednesday, voicing support and gratitude for Rollins’ response plan.
”Iowa’s poultry farmers have been hit hard by H5N1 HPAI. I am grateful to Secretary Rollins and USDA for making this issue a top priority,” Naig said.
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