The avian flu outbreak that swept through dozens of poultry flocks in Iowa has cost producers hundreds of millions of dollars and put a damper on the state’s economy. Throughout the outbreak, I heard from producers expressing uncertainty about the lack of clarity, guidance and timeliness of government assistance.
Last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee announced it would hold a hearing on the impact on the U.S. poultry industry and protecting the flocks in the future. The announcement came just a week after Senator Joni Ernst and I requested a hearing.
This is immensely important to Iowa producers and the Iowa economy. We need to learn from the last six months so, in addition to confronting the current epidemic, we’re better prepared to respond at all levels if the disease strikes again.
From a federal standpoint, the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has worked to coordinate with Iowa officials to implement prevention measures and quarantines to stop the disease from spreading, provide guidelines for the safe disposal and removal of the infected birds, and administer assistance with the recovery process to help producers restore their flocks and protect their livelihoods.
I’ve also contacted Senate appropriators to help ensure adequate money is in the pipeline to fight the disease as the committee digs into the details of its spending bills over the summer months.
In addition, Senator Ernst and I wrote to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on May 12 to ask that the Department of Agriculture provide more guidance and clarity to producers to ensure that the farmers are depopulating, repopulating and generally moving forward with their livelihood in the appropriate manner. I’ve since had several good conversations with the Secretary about the avian flu crisis and will continue to keep on top of the situation with him.