Silver Valley Farm owner Jim Shirk, a ninth-generation poultry farmer from Lancaster County, has faced hardship due to avian influenza harming his flocks over the past few decades.
But Shirk told Gov. Josh Shapiro at a gathering of state officials and agriculture leaders on Tuesday that what he’s seeing in this year’s outbreak is unprecedented.
“You work your lifetime growing birds, trying to keep birds healthy,” Shirk said. “And all of a sudden, they’re gone — in truly a blink of an eye.”
Pennsylvania is in the midst of its worst outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in decades, dealing a major blow to the commonwealth’s $7.1 billion poultry industry.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 7.48 million birds have been affected in Pennsylvania as of Feb. 20. The vast majority of confirmed cases are in Lancaster County.
That statewide number puts Pennsylvania at the highest rate of impacted birds, accounting for more than half of confirmed cases nationwide.
There is no treatment for avian influenza. According to the USDA, exposed birds should be euthanized to prevent other flocks from potential infection.
Shapiro’s office announced last week that 42 USDA employees would be coming to Pennsylvania to reinforce the more than 50 state employees working to combat the virus’ spread.
“This is a whole government approach,” Shapiro told the gathering of officials.
Shapiro said he had been working in close coordination with federal agencies, including USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, on efforts to combat the virus. He specified a few requests that he had for Rollins, including increased access to the department’s staff and veterinarians.
But he also asked Rollins about the update on a bird flu vaccine.
“This is not a tomorrow thing,” Shapiro said, based on his conversation with Rollins. “This is not gonna get us through the next few weeks here. The secretary was clear about that.”
After the meeting, Shapiro would not say whether he wanted a pilot program for any potential vaccine to be organized in Pennsylvania.
Shapiro told the gathering of farmers — who are direct competitors in the market — and the lawmakers from both political parties, that poultry producers should feel confident that officials are doing all they can to combat the outbreak.
“This is the kind of moment that tests us,” Shapiro said. “We’re a community that’s been tested before … and we are going to work our way through this.”
‘UNPRECEDENTED’ MOMENT
The word “unprecedented” was used by many speakers at the avian flu roundtable — whether it was to describe how quickly the number of cases has risen in Pennsylvania or to talk about the cross-governmental collaboration trying to get the spread under control.
Chris Herr is the executive vice president of the agriculture advocacy group PennAg, which helped organize the roundtable and assists in running the Rapid Response Center. He said farmers from all over the state have been working together like never before to combat the spread of avian influenza.
“The last three weeks have been some of the most difficult in my almost 40-year career,” Herr said.
But he noted that Pennsylvania has done more to support its poultry industry than any other state facing bird flu outbreaks.
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding shared a similar sentiment.
“These are not easy conversations to have at any level,” Redding said. “They can test your patience, for sure, and your diplomacy, but … we have seen the very, very best of people.”
FIGHTING BIRD FLU
The roundtable conversation took place at the Rapid Response Center in Lancaster County. Officials touted it as the only advanced animal testing facility of its kind in the country.
The center falls within a district represented by Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster, who is one of the leading voices on combating avian influenza in the General Assembly. Martin said similar roundtable-type meetings a few years ago directly led to the creation of a program for poultry producers to seek financial restitution for birds they had to cull during avian flu outbreaks.
It’s the only type of state-led program nationwide, Shapiro and other state officials said.
Lawmakers have invested about $75 million into the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Recovery Fund since 2022, and nearly $60 million sits in its reserves as of February. About 300 poultry businesses have benefited from the grants since their inception.
One of those benefactors is Heather Lewis, a first-generation farmer from Lancaster County. Back during 2022’s outbreak, a nearby infection caused a delay in her farm from being able to restock chickens for 99 days. Lewis said the recovery grant was essential for her farm.
“We have mortgages to pay, and we have bills to pay,” Lewis said. “We were more than ready once the birds were able to come back to our area.”
Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks, credited the state for its recovery efforts, but said during the meeting that maybe the General Assembly should invest further in biosecurity prevention efforts, like limiting exposure to wild birds.
“We have to get ahead of the curve,” Schwank said.