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Poultry industry remains watchful of HPAI

It’s been five months since a commercial poultry operation has had an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI) but the fall brings renewed concerns.

Greg Tyler is the President and CEO of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

“It’s been relatively quiet this year compared to last year, but even despite last year with all the challenges we faced with HPAI, we did reach a record $6.2 billion in exports,” he shares.

The last commercial outbreaks were in mid-April on turkey farms in North and South Dakotas.

Tyler tells Brownfield the disease has become a global issue with it now confirmed in many countries including Brazil, the largest chicken exporter.

“There is a concern that we’re going to see resurgence again,” he shares.  “We are hoping that the biosecurity measures that have been stepped up have really shown that they’re taking effect this past year because we’ve had fewer cases.”

Since 2022, HPAI has impacted nearly 59 million birds in the U.S. and caused record egg prices.  Prices for a dozen eggs are now less than half of what they were in January.