10 million egg layers are gone
Central California dairy herd recovering
The most recent report from USDA says after the effects of bird flu on the California poultry industry, there are only 4.7 million Golden State egg layers left to make your breakfast. Most of the eggs consumed in the state are imported from out of state although the rest of the country has been hit as well.
The California egg laying population was over 14 million a few years ago meaning that nearly 10 million hens have been “depopulated” with many due to the wave of bird flu infections. To stop the infections from the highly contagious virus, all birds must be killed in a flock.
“Two-thirds of egg-laying hens in California have been lost in the recent outbreak,” says CDFA’s Steve Lyle.The virus has also spread to commercial poultry with 61 flocks
having completed or awaiting depopulation.
It is likely to be months before a number of large Central Valley egg producers can get back into business as retail egg prices have climbed to $9 a dozen.
USDA figures show in December, California produced 114 million eggs compared to 350 million in December 2020.
It is not just California either. Nationwide since the bird flu epidemic started in February 2022 some 140.5 million birds have been affected and wiped out.
While the government is monitoring the bird flu epidemic the new Trump administration has put a pause on new agency reporting from the CDC and others.
Impact on dairy farms
The other livestock industry in the Valley impacted by bird flu has been the dairy industry concentrated in the Central Valley.
The California dairy herd has been hit with over 700 dairies suffering the epidemic according to the Milk Producers Council latest newsletter. They say that as of January 7 a total of 718 Central Valley dairies have been infected and that 618 of those remain under quarantine while 100 herds have recovered and been released from the quarantine.
Unlike the poultry industry, dairy cows have suffered from the bird flu sickness, but most have recovered, although production has plummeted. In December production was down almost 7% .But producers expect January milk output should be better. The virus is killed by pasteurizing the milk lough experts warn against raw milk.
There have been 37 human cases of bird flu HPAI reported in California, all but one in dairy employees. All
employee infections have included conjunctivitis (“pink eye”) and some have also included mild
respiratory symptoms.
Pitman plans big chicken ranch
The bird flu has hit meat chicken processors, as well as egg producers. Now Pitman Family Farms is following through on plans to expand an existing poultry farm at 16445 Laurel Avenue in Stratford In Kings County in a public hearing set for February 3. The company based in Sanger plans to increase the number of chickens raised at the ranch from 250,000 to 1.7 million at one time.
Del Monte makes it official
The Del Monte company sent a formal notice Jan 21 to the Kings County Board of Supervisors last week, stating that the facility will close March 28 and that 378 employees will lose their jobs. The notice complies with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which mandates a 60-day notice period before mass layoffs.Some of the workers were represented by the Teamsters. DelMonte says they are selling the big plant property although no buyers have surfaced.
Tomato tonnage down
In what would be the lowest tonnage in a decade,
USDA reports that as of January, California’s tomato processors have, or will have, contracts for 10.2 million
tons in 2025, which is a decrease of 10% compared to 11.3 million contracted tons forecast in the August 2024 California Processing Tomato Report.
The contracted production for 2025 will come from 200,000 acres, generating an average yield of 51.0 tons per acre. This year’s contracted planted acreage forecast is 12% below the 2024 estimate of 228,000 planted acres under contract in the August forecast.
Growers say heat shrunk the harvest this season after rains created soggy fields in 2023. Kings and Fresno Counties are the largest producers. In 2022 Kings growers harvested nearly 29,000 acres.
The tomato processing business has been shrinking in recent years and includes the closure of the Kingsburg Del Monte facilities and the shuttering of the Olam tomato plant in Lemoore and now the 670,00sf Del Monte facility in Hanford.
“California has a surplus of processing tomato capacity,” says Central Valley grower Arron Barcellos who sits on an industry board. “We have less of an export market than in the past” he adds, leaving too many processors to fight it out for a share of what is now mostly a domestic market.
If there are too many processors, the state’s growers and processors are saddled with higher input costs and tougher regulation than foreign competitors along with problems like the strong dollar.