WASHINGTON – Bipartisan legislation was recently introduced for updated financial protection for poultry growers dealing with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks.

The bill, the Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act (HPAI), introduced by Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), looks to compensate operations affected by the virus.

Current policies by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) allow growers who have tested positive for the flocks to receive compensation from the agency, but that does not apply to all poultry farms within the 10-kilometer radius that also cannot place flocks until the virus is contained.

Coons' office said that it creates a perverse incentive to make it preferable for poultry operations within the area to have HPAI cases because they would not receive compensation. The new bill would resolve that so all growers in the control area can also be compensated. 

The legislation also looks to simplify the calculation for indemnity, which allows for farmers’ payments to be calculated based on average income earned from the last five flocks.

“As it stands, blind spots in our HPAI compensation program punish growers for culling flu-free flocks,” Coons said. “As co-Chair of the Senate Chicken Caucus, I hope that including this bipartisan solution in the next farm bill will provide a lifeline to all hardworking farmers who do their part in helping us contain disease outbreaks by offering them fair and immediate financial relief, allowing them to recover quickly and assisting them in maintaining the strength of our essential poultry supply chains.”

Along with Wicker as a co-sponsor, the bill also has support from the House of Representatives, including Representatives Mark Alford (R-Mo.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

“The current wave of bird flu outbreaks is leaving our farming communities twisting in the wind,” Alford said. “When poultry operations test positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the federal government makes growers whole for lost revenue. The Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act will level the playing field by ensuring poultry growers and layer operations — who are impacted by USDA control zones put in place even though their birds never tested positive — also qualify for indemnity payments."

Since the first HPAI outbreak in 2022, around 153 million birds have been affected in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Some associations endorsing the legislation include the National Chicken Council, the United Egg Producers, the Delta Council, and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Last week the co-chairs of the Congressional and Senate Chicken Caucuses, which include Coons and Wicker, wrote a letter looking for assurances to protect US chicken exports following the ongoing discussions on HPAI vaccinations for poultry flocks around the United States.