Foster Farms closing Valley turkey operations
- More bird flu cases in California, US and worldwide
- 2.8 mil Indiana egg ranch hit
- New bird flu strain found in Merced
Just in time for Easter, expect an on-going egg shortage this season as feathers continue to fly in the nation’s poultry industry. And worldwide. It seems like Chicken Little was right as a strain of the highly infectious “bird flu” wipes out whole flocks of chickens across the U.S. and around the world.
It really does seem like the sky is falling as the storybook tale goes. Just ask a chicken or a farmer.
The state and national poultry industries are reeling this week from the bird flu epidemic that has wiped over 150 million birds across the US putting more stress on the poultry industry already under price pressures.
In California in the past few days, Foster Farms announced the closure of its turkey processing facility in Turlock saying it was “responding to changes in market demand.” The plant is expected to close May 9 resulting in the permanent layoff of 519 employees. The shuttering of the processing plant will spill over on the production side at Valley ranches that will now have no home for their turkeys as well.
California is already a small player in turkey production. In 2023, California produced approximately 197.8 million pounds of turkey, a small fraction of the U.S. total of 6.99 billion pounds.
Zacky Farms went out of business a few years ago.In 2019 Foster Farms completed the acquisition of 19 former Zacky poultry ranches in the Central Valley, as part of Zacky Farms’ bankruptcy settlement proceedings.Those ranches were added to the 40 ranches already owned by Foster Farms that have supplied both turkey and chicken meat.
Meanwhile, this week, two more duck meat poultry operations in Madera and Merced counties had to lay down their flocks as bird flu infected their farms. Already the bird flu has depopulated two thirds of the egg ranches in California as of January.Increasingly eggs will be supplied by out of state hens.Now add turkey to the list.
New strain found in Merced
A new strain of bird flu has been found in the Valley.Called H5N9, has been detected for the first time in the US, raising concerns about how it continues to spread.The strain was discovered at a commercial duck farm in California’s Merced County, and was reported to the World Organization for Animal Health, which maintains a database of animal disease threats.
While H5N9 is not currently considered a serious threat to humans, experts warn that more mutations could increase the risk of bird flu spreading to people in the future.
Scientists are particularly concerned about a process called “reassortment,” The Washington Post reported, where different flu strains mix in infected animals, creating new versions of the virus.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed that the H5N9 strain detected in California is the result of reassortment involving H5N1, the strain that’s already spreading rapidly in the US.
California is not the only place where poultry farms are being targeted by the virus.
National supplier Rose Acres Farms, the second largest egg producer in the US released a statement that it had to detected the highly pathogenic bird flu at its farm in Seymour, Indiana with the elimination of 2.8 million birds
The egg shortage nationwide has driven up the price of your breakfast eggs to about $9 a dozen.
Meanwhile other producers are under pressure. Americans are consuming less turkey than they have in past decades affecting companies who are feeling an industry oversupply like Foster Farms and,Cargill. Cargill just announced it will close their Springdale, Arkansas, turkey plant Aug. 1, laying off 1,100 employees.
Turkey consumption in the United States has been declining in recent years. In 2023, Americans ate an average of 14.8 pounds of turkey per person -an 18% decrease from 1996. For 2024 per capita consumption is expected to fall to 13.9 pounds, says USDA. Farmers are also getting less for their product as the per pound price has dropped to below $1.All this forces more consolidation in the industry.
Bird flu spreads worldwide
Recent reports say during January 2025 Japan reported 14 outbreaks to the World Organization of Animal Health of which one involved a quail farm but with the remainder all table egg flocks. A total of 3.8 million hens have been depopulated through January 27th representing 2.2 percent of the population of approximately 170 million.
South Korea has recorded 29 outbreaks of HPAI among commercial poultry including ducks and laying hens since October 2024. The incidence conforms to the migratory patterns of marine birds and waterfowl, the same dynamic that hit the US.
Canada confirmed 51 cases of HPAI i 2024 requiring depopulation of 14.5 million commercial turkeys, broilers or laying hens. Losses were recorded in British Columbia (8.7 million), Alberta (2.0 million), Quebec (1.4 million) and Ontario (1.1 million).