Iowa Farm Bureau issues bird flu impact study

DES MOINES - The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation released study results Monday indicating the avian flu outbreak in Iowa cost producers nearly 8,500 jobs and nearly $427 million in lost revenue when the disease forced the depopulation of 34 million birds on 77 farms earlier this year.

The study, commissioned by the Farm Bureau and conducted by Decision Innovation Solutions, also estimated the outbreak will mean higher egg and poultry prices for up to three years after hitting the nation's largest egg-producing state.

According to the study, the bird flu outbreak will cost Iowa nearly $427 million in lost additional value - with more than half of that amount being lost income for Iowans.

Dave Miller, director of research and commodity services for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said the ripple effects of the lost jobs and revenue could last for up to three years, which also will impact egg and poultry prices since it takes months to get the birds and the staff back in place.

Officials said a farm infected with the virus needs to sit empty for 21 days before workers can begin repopulation efforts. Northwestern Iowa was hit particularly hard by the bird flu outbreak since it has the highest population of birds and bird farms, he noted.

'Egg prices are likely to peak out this summer, but the ‘elevated' price for eggs is likely to linger for a minimum of 12 months and could last for two to three years. Recovery from this outbreak which devastated Iowa egg and poultry farms will not be swift,” Miller said in an IFBF news release. 'It's really astounding that we could lose half of our poultry flock in a couple of months.”

As poultry farms cut back, Miller said, other Iowa businesses 'up and downstream” have and are being affected, including veterinarians, trucking companies, processors and lenders. It also means nearly $427 million in value-added income was lost, he said, because grain farmers and other businesses that sell their feed and other goods and services to poultry farms couldn't continue to make and sell products and services like they did before the outbreak.

Miller also noted that many of the egg farm workers who lost their jobs are moving away to seek employment in other towns or other industries and replacing the labor pool in the future won't be easy.

'As for the future risk, the entire industry is reviewing all of their biosecurity protocols, but since about 16 percent of all wild water fowl are carriers of avian influenza, the potential for exposure is difficult to eliminate,” Miller said. 'Farms are working to minimize contact of their birds with wild birds, but it is very difficult to keep out sparrows, starlings, and everything that migrates over these barns.”