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By Jennifer Bamberg
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided over $889 million in financial assistance to poultry farmers affected by bird flu infections between January 2023 and September. The vast majority has gone to large companies.
To contain the spread of the highly contagious bird flu, the USDA offers compensation to poultry farmers to kill entire flocks if the disease is found.
Despite killing tens of millions of commercially raised birds in the last two years, the highly contagious disease has spread to nearly 300 dairy herds from California to Michigan, and infected at least 20 people in the last year. Some experts worry that the spread of the virus exceeds what has been reported.
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Half of all payments have gone to just 10 companies. The largest recipient was Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch, based in Saranac, Michigan. Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch received $89 million, or 10% of all payments, between the start of 2023 and September, according to the most recent USDA data.
Herbruck’s sells to “all of the McDonald’s east of the Mississippi through longtime customer Cargill,” according to the Michigan Retailers Association.
The company euthanized nearly 6.5 million birds in April due to bird flu and laid off 400 workers in May as a result.
To calculate the amount a company or individual farmer will receive, the USDA multiplies the value per animal or egg by the number of live animals or eggs.
Jennie-O Turkey, parent company Hormel Foods, received the second highest amount of payments, or 9% of all payments. The turkeys are sold at grocery stores like Albertsons, Mariano’s and Walmart.
The dominance of companies like Herbruck’s and Jennie-O in receiving payments reflects broader trends in the poultry industry, where a small number of large-scale producers control much of the market.
The median payment for poultry farmers is around $39,000. When excluding the top ten, the median payment is $16,338.00.
Originally published by Investigate Midwest.
Jennifer Bamberg covers agribusiness and food systems policy in Illinois for Investigate Midwest.
