Bird flu’s cost to state of Iowa so far: $1.1 million

DES MOINES - Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said Monday the Bird flu outbreak ranks as Iowa's worst animal health emergency and could cost federal and state agencies up to $300 million in the cleanup, disposal and disinfection process on top of the sizable losses being incurred by producers.

'Animal-health wise, there is nothing that we've ever had like it,” said Northey, who held out hope the spread is 'winding down,” since Iowa recently has reported fewer confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic flu that has led to the deaths and euthanizing of more than 32.7 million commercial layers and turkeys on 76 farms in 18 Iowa counties. All the infected birds in Iowa have been depopulated and humanely destroyed, he said.

Northey said hotter temperatures and decontamination efforts have slowed the outbreak, although state officials Monday said they were investigating a possible new case. He noted that Minnesota saw a resurge in cases after a brief lull, and nearly 2,300 federal and state response personnel remained at work Monday in the field assessing Iowa's situation and looking ahead to what might happen once fall weather returns along with migratory bird activity.

'This is unique,” Branstad told members of the Iowa Executive Council on Monday. 'I've dealt with a lot of disasters as governor over the years, but this bird flu thing is like nothing we've ever dealt with before. It's been a difficult and unusual one. It's looking like we're going to be on the back side of it here in the near future, but it's been a tough situation.”

The first state costs associated with the outbreak surfaced Monday, when officials with the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management submitted a $1.1 million request to the Iowa Executive Council under a statewide disaster emergency declaration, issued by Gov. Terry Branstad in May and extended to July to cover costs associated with the state response. Due to procedural requirements, the council was told it will have to wait two weeks to act on the request.

Northey and other state officials said some of the cost incurred by the state could be reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under cooperative compacts. Other states also have offered to send veterinarians or other assistance to address an outbreak USDA officials fear may spread to the East and the South, he noted.

A national meeting during the last week in July is planned in Des Moines to consider issues related to the Bird flu outbreak going forward.

Mark Schouten, director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said his agency also is drafting a request for a presidential disaster declaration related to the bird flu epidemic that he hoped would be completed later this week.

Northey said USDA indemnification and disposal costs likely will approach $300 million, although he added 'I've heard lots of different estimates. I don't know how solid any of them are, but it's going to be hundreds of millions.”

On the producers' side, Northey said that if 26 million layers in Iowa are no long laying on average two dozen eggs per month, that figures to a loss for producers of 50 million dozens of eggs a month that could sell from $1 to $3 per dozen until they are able to return to full production, if they get their operations back up at all. Also, about one million Iowa turkeys have been lost that would have gone to market.

'They miss huge amounts of income, and we will have some that may not go back to business when this is all done as well,” the state ag secretary noted.