Senators want bird- flu fund changes
As weather cools and waterfowl start to migrate south, Arkansas poultry farmers are looking for financial security in case of another bird flu outbreak.
Both of Arkansas’ U. S. senators, along with senators from other poultry- producing states, signed a letter last week asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to give some financial support to poultry growers whose flocks have been destroyed by the virus. Currently, only owners receive payments.
Bruce Holland, director of the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission, said a farmer who has to destroy owners’ flocks because of a bird flu outbreak loses a good portion of profits for the year and has no guarantee of financial help.
“Those folks are living paycheck to paycheck,” Holland said. “If it were to be as widespread in Arkansas as it was in Iowa or Minnesota this year, then it would have a big impact.”
The letter asks the U. S. Department of Agriculture to change how indemnity, or financial support, is split up between growers and poultry owners if flocks are destroyed by what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Companies that own the birds can decide to split the indemnity with the grower, but they don’t have to.
“Different companies have different contracts with their growers and make different allowances for their birds getting sick,” Holland said.
Arkansas- based Tyson Foods said in a statement that the company does what it can to help contract farmers.
“Farmers who grow chickens for our company are critical to our success and we do everything we can to work with them during times of hardship,” the statement said. “Since we’ve not
had a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in our chicken business for some time, we’d rather not speculate on what could happen.”
A Tyson contract turkey farm in Iowa had a confirmed case of bird flu in April.
Most poultry farmers do not own their birds. More than 90 percent of all chickens raised for meat in the U. S. are produced by contract growers, according to the National Chicken Council.
Companies like Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms generally provide the chicks, feed, veterinary supplies and transportation. The growers care for the chickens and provide the labor, housing facilities and other expenses. When the birds reach six or seven weeks, the farmer is paid based on the weight gained by the flock.
The letter also calls for poultry growers to receive indemnity payments if losses occur elsewhere in the supply chain, including hatcheries, and for additional loan programs to help support growers severely affected by a bird
flu outbreak.
Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman, both Republicans, signed the letter shortly after a delegation from the Arkansas Farm Bureau traveled to Washington, D. C., to meet with the senators and talk about the situation for Arkansas poultry growers.
Randy Veach, president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said indemnity payments are split between growers and owners for losses caused by low pathogenic viruses, or viruses that cause only mild disease. He said he and other farmers are asking that the same standard be applied for the highly pathogenic strands.
“We’ve had incidents before in the U. S. where the growers did not get any indemnity because of this highly pathogenic avian influenza,” he said. “There needs to be some slack and some leeway in there.”
Bird flu was detected in only one commercial farm in Arkansas this year. The farm, which is in Boone County, supplies turkeys to Butterball.
Veach said the Livestock and Poultry Commission acted quickly and destroyed the flock. He said that farm can expect to have about four to
five flocks a year.
“That farmer lost that whole flock of birds,” he said. “It’s very financially devastating.”
Holland said the bird flu virus doesn’t live long during warm weather, so the next few months in which ducks and geese migrate south will be one of the most vulnerable times for birds to fall sick.
“We’ll be cautious all winter,” he said. “The cold weather is when it’s most likely to hit.”
He said the Livestock and Poultry Commission is continuing to reach out to contract growers and educate them on the best biosecurity practices. The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Extension service works with backyard growers.
“We have to be ready for the worst,” Holland said.
Veach said contract farmers can easily go out of business if they are unable to recoup after a bird flu outbreak.
“It’s a huge economic engine for our state,” he said. “If we start to cripple it with the loss of this production and cause this loss of production, then that’s going to hurt the consumer out there and the citizens of Arkansas eventually.”