High-path avian flu a looming threat to nation’s leading turkey producing state

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High-path avian flu a looming threat to nation’s leading turkey producing state

One of the states hit hardest by the avian influenza outbreak in 2015 is on high alert as the virus continues to spread.

Minnesota, the nation’s leading turkey producer, lost about 9 million birds either to disease or depopulation.

Minnesota House Agriculture Committee chair Mike Sundin calls high path avian flu a looming concern.

“Think back five, six years when we had to euthanize (pretty much) all the poultry in the state. That was a disaster.”

Sundin is a Democrat from Esko.

The H5N1 virus was detected earlier this year in several East Coast states and has now been confirmed in neighboring Iowa.

“The point I like to get across is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the cure is an ugly thing. And the legacy costs to the producers can be devastating.”

Minnesota has about 550 commercial turkey operations and more than 3,000 poultry farms.

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