America’s food supply is under attack.

It is long past time to fight back.

I am a third-generation poultry farmer based in Saranac, Michigan. For close to seventy years, our family’s farming enterprise has expanded to become the tenth largest egg supplier in the United States.

Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch is responsible for raising almost 11 million birds through its operations in Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. It is possible that you have come across some of our eggs during a visit to your neighborhood grocery store.

Believe me when I say the poultry industry is in crisis.

Since 2022, H5N1, a new strain of bird flu, has infected 153 million birds in commercial, backyard, and wild settings across 48 states. To prevent the virus from spreading further, millions of additional animals have been humanely euthanized.

I liken this avian flu scourge to a terrorist attack because it undermines one of the country’s most critical systems – our food supply. And poultry farms have been fighting this battle for years.

But regrettably there’s no end in sight to this war. And now American consumers are sharing the burden.

America’s food supply is under attack. It is long past time to fight back. (Pictured: Empty shelves at the egg section of a grocery store in Miami). 

I’m a third-generation poultry farmer in Saranac, Michigan. Over nearly seven decades, my family farming operation has grown to be the 10th largest egg producer in America. 

A recent surge in the virus has triggered more culls, devastated farms and resulted in skyrocketing grocery prices. A dozen eggs, which should wholesale for about $2, have spiked to $8 and higher.

At Herbruck’s Michigan farm, we experienced an outbreak in April 2024.

All of us at Herbruck’s were devastated to learn about the detection, and as someone who has cared for and depended on egg-laying hens for more than 60 years, I’m heartbroken by the loss of any hen.

Once avian flu is in the flock, it moves with frightening and deadly speed.

We first detected the virus the day before Easter when we lost 70 birds in one of our barns. By Easter Sunday, 700 were dead. The following day, the death toll had climbed to 10,000. By Tuesday, two other farms within five miles of each other were also hit – that was when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) moved in.

After it is confirmed that avian flu has infected a farm, the USDA essentially takes over – and their policy is to ‘stamp out’ the virus.

Within a week, we lost 6.5 million hens, which means 6 million fewer eggs per day were being produced and sold in the market.

To a family farmer – that’s emotionally and financially devastating.

To the American consumer – it’s a gut punch.

These culls are not easy to bounce back from.

Within a week, we lost 6.5 million hens, which means 6 million fewer eggs per day were being produced and sold in the market. 

To a family farmer – that’s emotionally and financially devastating. To the American consumer – it’s a gut punch. These culls are not easy to bounce back from. 

It will take months to repopulate our farm. After working with federal and state regulators and ensuring our farm was free and clear of the virus in June, we are still only operating at 70 percent of our full production capacity.

Coupled with biosecurity protocols, the USDA policy of ‘stamping out’ the avian flu has worked to control the spread of bird flu in the past. But with new strains of bird flu, and the unprecedented infections of dairy cattle, we can no longer rely solely on biosecurity to protect our flocks.

America must start to vaccinate its poultry populations against avian flu just as we’ve vaccinated against Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis and a handful of other illnesses for decades. Why is avian flu allowed to persist?

Even though existing H5N1 vaccines exist and are made in America, we are not allowed to give them to our birds. Our federal government must take urgent, critical measures to help address this crisis, and that means implementing an aggressive strategy on vaccines.

We need enhanced, universal biosecurity requirements across the agriculture industry, and a strategic initiative that engages experts in the industry to expand our knowledge on bird flu and how we can further mitigate this crisis.

If we effectively address bird flu, customers will see relief at the grocery store. And Americans will no longer have to pay the price of this deadly disease.

It will take a renewed scientific and political will to address the vulnerability of our nation’s food supply. But it can be done.

We can’t delay – or our goose may be cooked.