The United States government has paid more than $1.1 billion to over 1,200 poultry producers for culling and replacing their flocks amid ongoing bird flu outbreaks across the country. Since 2022, poultry operations have been rapidly reinfected, triggering federal payouts of hundreds of millions of dollars. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has paid over $365 million in federal payments to farms affected by reinfections. This provision greatly emphasizes the continued risk the virus has to the agricultural industry.
During this outbreak, at least 56 poultry operations—chicken and turkey farms—have been infected twice by bird flu. Further, 67 commercial poultry facilities have experienced at least one reinfection. Of these, 18 farms have been infected by the virus three or more times. Alarmingly, six of these farms have experienced a total of four outbreaks of this H5N1 strain. South Dakota has the honor of being the home state to 11 of these farms repeatedly affected over the years.
The economic toll of these outbreaks is staggering. To the American consumer, the average price of eggs in the US was $5.90 per dozen in February, a record high. To that end, the Trump administration last week released a new five-year plan to address the surge of violence. This strategic plan is aimed at strengthening biosecurity practices and calls for free biosecurity audits and the reduction of regulations. It provides $100 million for development of treatments and vaccines, as well as raising payments for depopulating infected farms.
Despite these efforts, the biggest barrier to vaccination is not the cost but rather the current social incentives at play. Matthew Hayek, an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University, noted that “the incentives are going in the wrong direction,” suggesting a need for reevaluation of current strategies.
“The incentives are going in the wrong direction.” – Matthew Hayek, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University.
As Hayek noted, many of those farms are still in the process of recovering their losses. That indicates that existing quantifiable measures may not be sufficient to truly support them.
“Farms are continuing to go back to the well in order to recoup their losses.” – Matthew Hayek, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University.
Khaled Abdelaziz, an assistant professor of animal and veterinary sciences at Clemson University, got to the heart of the matter. Mitchell warned that an overdependence on biosecurity would do little to prevent the virus’ introduction or spread.
“It seems like biosecurity measures alone are not enough to prevent the spread of this virus.” – Khaled Abdelaziz, assistant professor of animal and veterinary sciences at Clemson University.
Abdelaziz called for a rethinking of vaccination as a tool to reduce production losses and prevent future pandemics.
“We need to reconsider vaccinating our poultry flocks to minimize the production losses and prevent potential pandemics.” – Khaled Abdelaziz, assistant professor of animal and veterinary sciences at Clemson University.
The threat of bird flu is more than an economic worry. The virus would have pandemic potential if it were able to transmit from humans to humans. Abdelaziz cautioned that such an eventuality would be “even more catastrophic than the coronavirus” pandemic.
“If it transmits from humans to humans, it will be more catastrophic than the coronavirus pandemic.” – Khaled Abdelaziz, assistant professor of animal and veterinary sciences at Clemson University.
In light of these challenges, there is discussion around helping embattled poultry producers transition to new forms of agriculture, such as growing beans or mushrooms. This diversification might offer a layer of protection from the financial repercussions caused by repeated bird flu outbreaks.
