The great Ebola scare of 2014 captured headlines and the imaginations of people all throughout the country. Georgia was at the center of the action with multiple patients receiving treatment at Emory Hospital, one of the nation’s premiere research centers for infectious disease. At the end of the day though, Ebola was little more than a overblown fear. The Y2K scare of diseases.
There’s a lesser known epidemic sweeping the country now in 2015 though, and while it poses little if any threat to human life, it could have a much bigger impact on Georgia farmers.
Avian influenza, colloquially referred to as the bird flu, has been ravaging poultry populations in the midwest for months. In Iowa, the nation’s leading egg-producing state, over 34 million chickens and turkeys have either died of the disease or been euthanized to prevent its spread. Nearly 2,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs as a result. Republican Governor Terry Branstad has requested that four rural counties be declared as federal disaster areas.
Here in Georgia, poultry farming is by far the single largest segment of agriculture in the state. According to statistics from the University of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Business Development, the poultry industry accounts for over $18 billion dollars in annual contribution to the state’s economy, and either directly or indirectly is responsible for over 100,000 jobs. If Georgia were its own country, it would be 7th in the world in terms of broiler, (the chickens primarily used for meat) production.
So when a existential threat to poultry rears its head in the midwest, Georgia farmers are forced to take action.
Migration beginning in the fall promises to spread the disease via southward-bound migratory birds. Larger farms have already taken steps to prevent bird flu from effecting their flocks, disinfecting arriving vehicles and workers each day. Procedures put in place by the Georgia Poultry Lab Network are already in place to quarantine and eliminate the disease should it rear its ugly head anywhere in the state.
With farmers taking major preventative steps to protect their livelihoods, experts are now trying to spread the word to smaller operations and those who have backyard coops. Any contact with migratory birds, who are drawn to chicken feed if left outside, is potentially deadly.
Poultry farming may not be as glamorous an industry as film, technology, or luxury car manufacturing, but it plays a greater role than any other in our local economy. While it comes as a relief to know that the agricultural community is getting in front of the looming issue that is avian flu, the entire state should be holding its breath as the days begin to grow shorter and a true epidemic makes its way down south.
