Bird Flu outbreak continues to hit Midwest

In February of last year, High Pathogenic Avian Influenza returned to U.S. commercial flocks after a several year hiatus. Producers in Iowa, one of the country’s top poultry producing states, have seen new cases in just the last few months.

Mike Naig is Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture.

Sec. Mike Naig, Iowa Department of Agriculture: "I don't think folks thought it was a surprise. I think we had done, I think we all had learned that there was a constant threat and end is to the question about whether or not our producers had been preparing and whether we had been preparing. The answer to that is yes."

During the 2015 - 2016 outbreak, Iowa recorded 77 individual cases of HPAI that impacted nearly 33 million birds. Egg prices spiked as the virus rolled over the nation’s number one egg producing state.

Over the past two years in Iowa, there have only been 41 cases of Avian Flu, impacting just over 16 million birds. 

Sec. Mike Naig, Iowa Department of Agriculture: "Now, what's that tell you? That tells you that farmers understood and did a better job on biosecurity. Keep what's outside, outside and inside, inside."

USDA helps make producers whole by paying for a portion of the lost birds as well as the costs for cleaning and disinfecting when the animals are depopulated. The Iowa Department of Agriculture provides for emergency response expenses like PPE and travel. 

Officials with USDA say the chance of HPAI- infected poultry entering the food chain is extremely low and that you cannot get Avian Flu from birds that have been properly cooked. 

Naig says the turkeys that you see in the grocery store were harvested months ago and there is little chance of a shortage. 

Sec. Mike Naig, Iowa Department of Agriculture: This is a constant threat, as is African swine fever, as is foot and mouth disease. That is how we have to think of high path avian influenza. That's the mindset that our producers have to have. That's the level of readiness that we have to maintain here and at USDA is that it could happen literally now at any time.

For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.