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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, August 16, 2024
Another case of avian flu has been identified in a person in Colorado, the fourth such case associated with the H5N1 virus that has infected herds in 12 states.
The softening in grain markets that is pressuring row crop farmers has brought some welcome relief to dairy producers, but the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on dairy farms continues to weigh on the sector.
In this opinion piece, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stresses that biosecurity is the key to limiting the spread of H5N1 and says USDA is developing a program to compensate producers with infected dairy herds.
USDA is re-emphasizing the importance of biosecurity on dairy farms in light of reports identifying a variety of ways the H5N1 virus can infect dairy herds and nearby poultry operations, including the movement of animals and people, and the sharing of vehicles and equipment.
The list of states reporting highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy herds has grown to a dozen with Friday's announcement by Wyoming of a detection there.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the second case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a dairy worker in a week, and the third this year, but the agency said the risk to the public remains low.
The House Agriculture Committee is set to debate its Republican farm bill, starting at 11 a.m. EDT. The big question isn’t whether the committee will approve the bill. Republicans should have the votes on their side to do that. The question is how many Democratic votes Republicans can get.
There are a lot of new details now about the farm bill that Republicans plan to push through the House Agriculture Committee next week. Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., on Friday afternoon released a 38-page section-by-section summary on his draft and is expected to release more detail later this week.
The avian flu outbreak has been “all-consuming” for the Food and Drug Administration, which is concerned about the possibility that the virus could mutate and spread to humans, says Jim Jones, the agency's deputy commissioner for human foods.