BY CHING LEE

AgAlert

With California’s robust investment and experience in animal disease surveillance and detection, there’s little disagreement in agricultural circles that the state was well prepared for bird flu. 

But agricultural officials, farmers and other industry representatives also acknowledge that the latest outbreak—which began in 2022 and has become the largest in U.S. history—has been no cakewalk. 

They spoke during an informational hearing last week on the state’s response to bird flu, which has led to the destruction of more than 166 million birds nationwide, record-high egg prices and the disease infecting most of the state’s dairies. 

The hearing was held by the state Senate agriculture and health committees, with testimony from those who provided on-the-ground updates on the outbreak, steps being taken to contain it and suggestions on how to prevent future outbreaks. 

California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross said the state took an integrated approach to protecting human and animal health. Despite best practices and scientific expertise, she said, “it has become an unprecedented outbreak of an animal disease.”

Ross praised the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $1 billion plan to fight bird flu and stabilize egg supplies. The plan includes funding to enhance biosecurity on farms and to speed development of vaccines and therapeutics. 

The good news, State Veterinarian Annette Jones said, is that quarantines on dairies are now being lifted faster than new ones are being imposed, meaning “we are getting ahead of the virus.” 

In total, there have been 754 bird flu cases in dairies as of March 10, with four new cases confirmed as of March 7, according to USDA. More than 23.7 million birds in California have been affected, including 105 commercial flocks and 39 backyard flocks, with the last detection on Feb. 13—in one commercial flock and one backyard flock. 

Though poultry producers have improved their biosecurity and have managed to keep wild-bird strains of the virus out of their farms, there were “too many infected dairies around the poultry producers for their biosecurity to work,” Jones said. Egg prices have soared, she said, because “this has been the worst outbreak this country has ever seen.”

To better understand the outbreak and how the disease spreads, she said the state has completed more than 600 biosecurity audits and continues to do epidemiologic questionnaires with farmers. There are also close to 40 ongoing studies related to bird flu, thanks to federal funds made available for emergency research. 

To stop bird flu, “we just need to stay steady,” Jones said. Biosecurity and testing must be kept up, she said, and reducing virus load is key “because the best biosecurity in the world will not keep out the virus” if it overwhelms the environment. In poultry, rapid euthanasia will need to continue unless there’s a vaccine, which is being considered for cows if it is shown to work and is approved.

Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, which represents the broiler sector, said vaccines are problematic for meat birds because of rejection from foreign markets. 

As vaccines become available, Ross said the state must ensure they can be deployed without causing “unintended consequences” and harm to markets and export trade. 

Mattos asked lawmakers to find ways to speed the process of depopulating birds and disinfecting farms so that farmers can restart production. 

“There’s got to be a way that we can work together and try to get back into business quicker,” he said. 

Even with tight biosecurity measures, David Will, vice president of sales for Chino Valley Ranchers, said many egg producers have been impacted by bird flu two or more times. The company produces cage-free, organic and pastured-raised egg in Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties and Texas. He said the California ranches followed the state order and kept their organic hens inside during the outbreak. However, one farm still became infected in December, forcing the euthanasia of 180,000 birds. 

“Clearly, the strain of the virus is different, and we need help,” Will said, suggesting there should be “strong dairy movement restriction” and vaccines given to cows and egg layers in locations where the virus is hot. Infections from dairies to poultry farms “cannot be overlooked,” he said, as more than 30 million egg layers since October 2024 have been infected with the dairy strain of bird flu.

Doreen Dyt, a field representative for California Dairies Inc., the state’s largest dairy cooperative, acknowledged the frustration felt by dairy farmers due to the lack of understanding of how the virus was being transmitted from farm to farm. There was also frustration that testing could not be done locally, with milk samples being sent to Davis and then out of state for confirmation, adding “a logistical bottleneck that I think should be addressed moving forward at the state level,” she said. 

Jones said the lab in Tulare, which was flooded in 2023, is still not back online, though a new lab in Turlock is expected to open by the end of the year. 

Dyt said testing milk through handlers rather than at the farm helped streamline the process and placed infected dairies on quarantine faster. She praised state and local efforts to distribute free personal protective equipment, or PPE, to farms to keep employees safe.  

Erica Pan, director and state public health officer of the California Department of Public Health, said more than 4.6 million pieces of PPE have been distributed to 18 counties, including more than 800,000 respirator masks, 3.5 million gloves, 200,000 goggles and face shields, and nearly 80,000 disposable caps.

In Tulare County alone, more than 1.7 million pieces of PPE were distributed, according to Karen Elliot, the county’s public health director. She said the county’s ability to act quickly “was made possible in large part by the state investment provided to our department.”

Ching Lee is editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.