Avian Flu (also known as bird flu) hit the southwest’s biggest egg farm, nearly wiping out its whole flock. The outbreaks has forced Hickman’s Family Farms, of Arizona, to buy new egg laying hens and regenerate its entire flock, an undertaking which the farm expects will take two years to achieve. Hickman Family Farms is the latest producer to suffer from the ongoing bird flu crisis, which has killed at 173 million poultry bird, 13,000 wild birds, and decimated more than 1,000 dairy cow herds across the US. More recently, the virus has spread to humans, with 70 confirmed infections and one death. The continued uncontrolled spread of the virus threatens not only the agricultural industry and the livelihoods that depend on it. It has has severe implications for public health, food prices and the economy.
“This is a very unfortunate situation and a stark reminder that the bird flu outbreak is still wreaking havoc on the poultry industry, said David Ortega, professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University. “The closure of Hickman’s Family Farms…will have an outsized impact on egg prices and availability in the region… While national impacts may be more limited in the near term, this adds pressure to an already stressed egg supply chain. All of this underscores how vulnerable our food system remains and why investments in biosecurity and disease preparedness are more important than ever.”
Experts have warned that these outbreaks will continue to occur without major reforms in the poultry industry. Dr. Gail Hansen, who served for over a decade as Kansas’ lead epidemiologist and public health veterinarian, said that “Bird flu remains a major threat that will strike again—as long as factory farms continue to dominate our poultry market. By cramming together tens of thousands of chickens, corporations have created the perfect conditions to supercharge this recent bird flu outbreak, and which will inevitably do so again”.
Full Story: Newsweek, Economic Times , CIDRAP
