Colin Johnson has been around turkeys for nearly seven decades. But he went through what he called the most devastating, wasteful livestock experience of his entire life this spring. <\/p>\n
All of his turkeys \u2013 nearly 40,000 \u2013 were killed to contain the fast-spreading bird flu. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou put your heart and soul into something,\u201d said Johnson, who raises turkeys in the northwest Iowa town of Albert City, \u201cand then instantly it\u2019s gone. You\u2019ll never recover that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson had been required to test his flocks for highly pathogenic avian influenza after two flocks nearby were found positive for the virus. \n<\/p>\n
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Katie Peikes<\/p>\n
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Harvest Public Media<\/p>\n<\/div> His turkeys had shown no signs of the disease. He saw no runny beaks, no sudden increase in deaths. But in late March, two tests came back positive in a flock of his that was just five or six weeks old. Per U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, that spelled doom for every turkey he owned.
\n<\/p>\n The bird flu outbreak in the U.S. this year has affected more than 40 million commercial and backyard birds in 36 states, including Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. But no other county in the U.S. has been hit as hard by bird flu this year as northwest Iowa\u2019s Buena Vista County, where nearly 5.5 million commercial chickens and turkeys have died from the disease or been killed to stop its spread.
\n<\/p>\n While experts say this outbreak hasn\u2019t been as bad as 2015, bird flu has still caused a ripple effect across this heavy agricultural county, hurting not just producers and their birds, but workers as well.
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\n<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s turkey farm was one of four commercial operations in Buena Vista County hit by bird flu this year. The first case surfaced in the county in early March and the other three popped up over that month.
\n<\/p>\n The outbreak of bird flu across the country has, among other factors like inflation, fed into higher egg prices, which skyrocketed in April. The outbreak has also slowly been working its way into turkey prices, causing them to slightly rise.
\n<\/p>\n Iowa State University agricultural economist Chad Hart says Buena Vista County is particularly vulnerable to bird flu because of its concentration of poultry.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you drive into town,\u201d said Hart, referring to the county seat Storm Lake, \u201cone of the first things you notice is that big Tyson plant.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n Tyson Foods is the county\u2019s largest employer, and local turkey growers send their turkeys to the plant in Storm Lake to be processed. A Tyson spokesperson wouldn\u2019t comment on how bird flu has impacted the company\u2019s Storm Lake turkey processing plant, but on an earnings call an official said bird flu has had minimal impact on business.
\n<\/p>\n There\u2019s also Rembrandt Enterprises 15 miles north of town. It\u2019s one of the largest egg producers in the U.S. and the county\u2019s third largest employer. Hart said bird flu is a \u201cdouble whammy\u201d for Buena Vista County.
\n<\/p>\n Katie Peikes<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Harvest Public Media <\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cNot only do the farmers and ranchers get hurt by the loss of the flock,\u201d Hart said, \u201cbut the downstream workers in the processing plants get hurt as well because there\u2019s less product to process.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n That\u2019s what happened at Rembrandt\u2019s egg production facility. Bird flu was found in one of its barns, the <\/a><\/u>Storm Lake Times Pilot<\/a><\/u><\/i> reported<\/a><\/u>, and the company had to destroy the entire flock of 5.3 million egg-laying hens.
\n<\/p>\n Then it laid off 135 workers.
\n<\/p>\n Rembrandt Foods didn\u2019t respond to multiple requests for comment.
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\n<\/p>\n Things were different during the 2015 bird flu outbreak, said Oscar Garcia, a former supervisor at Rembrandt Foods who left before the disease returned last winter. Garcia, who worked at the plant as an operator when bird flu broke out seven years ago, said work slowed but didn\u2019t halt.
\n<\/p>\n Katie Peikes<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Harvest Public Media<\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cThey did have layoffs, but they provided people with jobs,\u201d Garcia said.
\n<\/p>\n Garcia soon was one of four working the night shift, which he said usually had a crew of nine.
\n<\/p>\n Back then, workers who were laid off were contracted for cleaning jobs at other Rembrandt plants, Garcia said. But not this time. Instead, people were given a severance package and told to go find other work.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt seriously gave me goosebumps,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThese are family, friends. Some of these households, both parents work there.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n Garcia put some of the laid-off workers in touch with a jobs center that helped them find work at Tyson Foods.
\n<\/p>\n Tyson targeted advertisements at former Rembrandt Foods workers for entry-level non-skilled jobs at its Storm Lake pork processing plant, but wouldn\u2019t comment on how many people it hired.
\n<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to know how many of the 135 laid-off workers are still without jobs, or what kind of an impact that\u2019s had on the local economy. Garcia said the bigger picture impacts of bird flu to the county are hard to notice.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cBut if you get down to the individual level, there are people that are really upset that I talk to,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cAnd it’s just really tough seeing that.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n Katie Peikes<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Harvest Public Media<\/p>\n<\/div> The social services agency Upper Des Moines Opportunity has been helping some former workers pay their gas, electric and water bills. Outreach specialist Maggie Reyes said when the workers were laid off from Rembrandt Enterprises in early April, she knew more people would be coming to her, asking for help.
\n<\/p>\n So Reyes started buying double the amount of food than she normally would for the agency\u2019s food pantry.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cI know that families will keep coming,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I just try to have it full here because how it comes and goes. The food goes very fast.\u201d
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\n<\/p>\n It\u2019s been about three months since the four Buena Vista County commercial poultry sites were hit by bird flu, but Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said there has been a lot of progress with getting those operations and the other 15 affected commercial farms and backyard flocks <\/b>back to normal.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe are definitely on the tail end [of the outbreak] here in the state of Iowa,\u201d Naig said in a recent interview<\/a><\/u>.
\n<\/p>\n At the four sites in Buena Vista County, producers have disposed of their birds, heavily cleaned, disinfected, and the facilities have been tested for any presence of the virus. All four have been approved to restock their flocks.
\n<\/p>\n Naig said the road to recovery is different for every producer, and some may restock immediately while others will wait, depending on the supply of birds. He added financial recovery could take time and producers are \u201ca couple months away from having new revenue come in.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n Producers can file claims for indemnity payments<\/a><\/u> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in order to be compensated for the destruction of their birds, the disposal and cleanup, \u201cbut it does not make a producer whole,\u201d Naig said.
\n<\/p>\n For Colin Johnson of Albert City, any income lost wasn\u2019t his \u201cgreatest concern,\u201d he said, because he also raises corn and soybeans. Johnson said the hardest moment for him was euthanizing his birds.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cLike a farmer when a beautiful field of corn gets hailed out and there\u2019s nothing left, it just hits you in the gut,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you gotta go on.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n And Johnson is about to get back to raising turkeys, with new baby turkeys scheduled to arrive on his farm soon.
\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be a big day,\u201d he said. \u201cThis one will be extra special, having gone through this whole process.\u201d
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\n<\/p>\nA \u2018double whammy\u2019<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/p>\nDisplaced workers get community support\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/p>\nOn the mend\u00a0<\/h2>\n