Press Releases

WASHINGTON - Today, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Congressman Mark Alford (R-Mo.), along with seven of their Democratic and Republican colleagues, introduced the Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification (HPAI) Act. The bill is a House companion to the Senate measure introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). 

Outbreaks of avian influenza have devasted poultry populations and has harmed farmers’ livelihoods and food trade. In the past year, the outbreak affected 47 states and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to poultry growers and layer operations – and drove food inflation even higher on Americans’ most cost-effective animal protein sources. 

The HPAI Act comes as a direct response to feedback from poultry growers and layers operations that the USDA Avian & Plant Health Inspective Service (APHIS) indemnity and compensation program for foreign animal disease outbreaks should be expanded and simplified.

“When our agriculture community is forced to confront outbreaks of avian influenza, we should make sure that incentives are aligned to help control the spread of the disease while also fairly compensating farmers to make sure they’re not on the hook for unexpected costs,” said Rep. Blunt Rochester. “That’s why I’m proud to be working across the aisle with Congressman Alford and across Congress with Senators Coons & Wicker to introduce a commonsense bill that protects our family farmers and poultry growers while incentivizing best practices to control the spread of avian flu.”

“Under current law, when poultry operations test positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) compensates growers for lost income. This diagnosis should never impact producers that could be miles away,” said Rep. Alford. “Our legislation changes exactly that. We are creating an indemnity payment for poultry growers and layer operations, who were impacted by USDA control zones put in place even though their birds were never impacted. I’m proud to join my colleagues in this much needed bipartisan legislation.”

The Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act would: 

• Expand USDA-APHIS compensation to all poultry farmers in an HPAI control area; the program currently only compensates farmers whose flocks test positive, not those in the control area who are disallowed from placing flocks until the virus is contained, which sometimes takes months. 

• Simplify the calculation of indemnity. The payments to farmers will be calculated based on the average income they earned from the last five flocks. This method is more transparent and ensures that farmers will not face a cash shortfall in the face of an HPAI outbreak in their area. 

The bill is supported by: American Farm Bureau Federation, National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation, United Egg Producers, Delmarva Chicken Association, Delaware Department of Agriculture, Delta Council, Delaware Farm Bureau, Mississippi Farm Bureau, Maryland Farm Bureau, South Carolina Farm Bureau, Iowa Farm Bureau, Louisiana Farm Bureau, Michigan Farm Bureau, Georgia Farm Bureau, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Nebraska Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Virginia Farm Bureau, Minnesota Farm Bureau, North Carolina Farm Bureau, Missouri Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farm Bureau, Alabama Farm Bureau, Indiana Farm Bureau. 

A one-pager of the bill can be found here.

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