22.12.2017

The 2014-2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was the largest poultry health disaster in U.S. history. More than 50 million birds were lost to the disease itself or to depopulation, overshadowing bird losses during any previous U.S. outbreak. Losses of table-egg laying chickens, or “layers,” and turkeys grown for meat, the primary poultry varieties affected, were estimated at 12 and 8 percent of their respective inventories. Losses of broiler chickens, which provide virtually all U.S. chicken meat, were less than 0.01 percent of their estimated inventory.
Around 87 percent of bird losses occurred in Iowa and Minnesota. The bulk of other cases occurred in the adjacent states of Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Dakota. In 2015, broiler exports were $1.1 billion lower than in 2014, a 26 percent decrease. Egg export income declined $41 million, a loss of 13 percent. Turkey export income was $177 million lower, a 23 percent decline.