A Crisis in America’s Food Supply

As a nation, we are facing a crisis that is threatening one of the most important parts of our daily lives: our food supply.

It’s time to face the reality that something needs to be done to protect it—and fast.

A Third-Generation Farmer’s Perspective

I’ve been involved in the poultry industry for as long as I can remember.

I’m a third-generation farmer based in Saranac, Michigan, and my family’s operation has grown over the decades to become the 10th largest egg producer in the United States.

Today, Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch raises nearly 11 million birds across Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

Many of you may have even bought our eggs at your local grocery store.

But here’s the harsh truth: The poultry industry is in crisis.

The Avian Flu Crisis

Since 2022, a new strain of bird flu, H5N1, has swept across the country, infecting 153 million birds across 48 states, including commercial, backyard, and wild flocks.

To prevent the virus from spreading further, millions of animals have been euthanized.

It’s nothing short of a national emergency.

The scale of this problem is hard to grasp.

In my opinion, it’s almost like a terrorist attack on our food system.

This virus is crippling a critical part of our economy and food supply.

Poultry farmers have been battling it for years, but unfortunately, there’s no end in sight.

The Financial and Emotional Toll

Things have only gotten worse recently. A surge in the virus has led to even more culls, which are decimating farms and driving grocery prices through the roof. For example, a dozen eggs that would typically cost around $2 are now selling for $8 or more.

At Herbruck’s, we experienced an outbreak in April 2024.

It was devastating.

For someone like me, who has spent over 60 years caring for egg-laying hens, the loss of any bird is heartbreaking.

But once the avian flu takes hold, it spreads quickly and mercilessly.

We first discovered the virus just before Easter, when 70 birds in one of our barns died.

By Easter Sunday, 700 were gone.

By the following day, the death toll climbed to 10,000.

Within days, two nearby farms were also hit.

That’s when the USDA stepped in.

The USDA Response and Its Impact

When the USDA confirms an avian flu outbreak, their protocol is to “stamp out” the virus.

This means, within a week, we had to cull 6.5 million hens.

That’s 6 million fewer eggs per day that were available on the market. For a family farmer, it’s an emotional and financial nightmare.

For consumers, it’s a gut punch.

And the damage doesn’t end there.

The recovery process is slow.

Even after working with federal and state agencies to ensure our farm was free of the virus by June 2024, we are still operating at only 70% of our full capacity.

This means fewer eggs are making it to the shelves, and prices remain high.

The Need for Vaccines and Stronger Measures

The USDA’s “stamp out” policy, along with strict biosecurity measures, has worked in the past to control the spread of bird flu.

But with new strains emerging, and even dairy cattle now being affected, it’s clear that we can’t rely on biosecurity alone to protect our flocks anymore.

It’s time to take the next step.

Just as we’ve vaccinated poultry against other diseases like Newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis for decades, we need to start vaccinating against avian flu.

There are vaccines already available, made right here in the United States.

Yet, we are not allowed to use them on our birds.

This needs to change.

A Call for Action

The federal government must take immediate, decisive action.

We need an aggressive vaccination strategy, alongside improved biosecurity protocols across the entire agriculture industry.

Experts in the field must come together to find better ways to understand and combat this disease.

If we address this issue head-on, grocery prices will start to stabilize, and consumers will no longer bear the brunt of this preventable disaster.

We can protect our food supply—it just takes a collective effort.

It’s time for a renewed focus on the science and the political will needed to safeguard our nation’s food.

If we delay, we risk much more than just the price of eggs.

The clock is ticking.

This article was published on TDPel Media. Thanks for reading!

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