Can we talk about bird flu for a minute here?
Since April 2015, more than 33 million chickens and turkeys in Iowa have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza. That was just the spring totals, with cooler fall weather there is a chance the disease will return.
Every chicken raising operation is not the same though, even here in Iowa. Pastured poultry operations have seen very few deaths from the avian influenza. What does that phrase mean? Pastured poultry? It means chickens raised in sunlight, on grass with room to spread out and do their chicken stuff.
How is that different from the poultry producers that got hit hard by the avian influenza? Those producers operate at industrial levels. Think chicken barns with 1+ million birds in them. I lived in NW Iowa for 5 years, we moved away shortly before the avian influenza broke out. I've never been so happy to be away from a place. The small town of 7000, Sioux Center, IA was entertaining a proposal for yet another giant chicken barn just outside of town. Already home to 33 of these barns, the new one would have added another million or so birds to the county. They smell horrible, I felt sorry for the neighbors. They are not nice places to be a bird. They are breeding grounds for all sorts of illnesses, which is why it's no surprise to me that they got hit so hard by this influenza.
"This outbreak has exposed, yet again, a major weakness in the structure of our large-scale, consolidated food system," says John Wesselius, of The Cornucopia farm in Sioux Center. "I hope that our leaders, as they look for answers, will consider the vulnerabilities of the state of our food system, and will support the infrastructure to encourage more resiliency in how we raise and distribute food."
Tony Thompson, of New Family Farm in Elkhart, adds that diversity is key to ensuring another outbreak of this scale doesn’t happen again: “Instead of a small number of very large industrial facilities, empower hundreds of small farmers to produce eggs, like we used to do. While some would argue this would not be efficient, ‘efficiency’ depends on what you are trying to optimize.” Given this major burp in industrial egg production, it should be clear to all that optimizing at broader levels and aiming for resiliency will lead to higher efficiency, not to mention better egg quality, more family farms and generally better quality of life for all Iowans.”
I know both of these men personally. John was a bit of a mentor to me before I moved back to Central Iowa this spring to start my little vegetable farm. He raises animals along side his organic vegetables, if I recall correctly he's raised chickens and pigs.
You don't have to be an organic farmer to understand what's going on though, it's not rocket science, we know what kills the influenza virus. Sunshine, warm temps and fresh air will kill it right off. Chickens in massive barns get none of those. Chickens raised outside on grass get all of them. Thus the clear difference in mortality rates between birds raised in the same state and exposed to the same virus.
I was glad when the federal disaster declaration was denied for these poultry producers. They brought this on themselves, tax payers shouldn't be on the hook to bail them out of their dumb decisions.
And it is dumb. I don't like to be harsh, but this is a classic putting-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket with the lovely twist of picking the worst basket form possible.
I'm a big believer in personal action, and I know it can seem difficult to arrange one's groceries so they aren't supporting this type of agriculture. So here are my tips for this one.
-Buy poultry and eggs from local producers. Whether you go with organic, pasture, sustainable, and/or vegetarian fed birds, any type of local production (on a small scale) is quite likely to be better than anything raised in a million bird barn. You can find these folks at your local farmers markets. Some cities have small meat shops carrying this type of poultry.
-Raise your own poultry. I know this can seem like a drastic step, but only a couple of generations ago, a chicken coop was practically standard for a home, and provided a significant fraction of the home's protein. Even city homes. It doesn't have to be chickens either. Doves, quail, guinea fowl, all have their pros and cons. Look into it. Try to raise a few of something. If you can raise 4 hens, they could keep you in eggs, and a few years in as you start rotating in young hens, those old hens make good eating.
Looking ahead, Thanksgiving approaches, if the talk at the table happens to turn to why there is no turkey on the table, or the cost of the bird that was obtained, I hope my diary here can help you shed some light for others on the underlying causes of this outbreak. This is not a situation that we have to sit back and accept, there are better ways of raising our nation's chicken flocks, if we would educate ourselves about them, advocate for them and invest in them.
Further, if fall weather brings about another wave of this avian flu, push back against those who would send federal aid to "help" these producers "recover." They CHOSE this production method, based entirely on profit margins. Their choice, their loss. Don't encourage government subsidizing of their greed.