A new bill in the U.S. Senate would ensure poultry producers are financially protected when a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak occurs.
Republican U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska says the legislation would expand the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s compensation program.
“What this will do is have the USDA create a control area where they will not only depopulate the infected flocks, but also prevent other producers from expanding their flocks so that we don’t have that opportunity to spread the flu even further.”
The Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification (HPAI) Act ensures payments to farmers are calculated based on the average income they earned from the last five flocks.
