'Devasted farms': Bipartisan Senate letter calls for 'new urgency' to address crippling virus

FIRST ON FOX: GOP Sen. Joni Ernst sent a letter to newly confirmed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins calling for cooperation on key measures to address the bird flu epidemic ravaging farms across the country. 

"We know many pressing concerns await you as you begin your new role. We write to ask that you enhance the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) response to the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in our nation’s animal agriculture sector, which we greatly appreciate you announcing as a top priority in your testimony before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry," the letter from Ernst, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, states. 

"The United States is now entering the fourth year of an outbreak of HPAI that has devastated farms, required the depopulation of more than 136 million birds on commercial poultry operations, and infected a small but growing number of farm workers. A new urgency is required from the USDA to address the evolving situation."

The letter promotes ways to address the crisis that have been outlined by egg and turkey farmers, including an aggressive vaccination strategy for hens and turkeys, stockpiling vaccines, and outreach to trading partners to ensure that trade is not negatively impacted. 

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The senators also called on the USDA to shift attention to a Biden order in 2024 that requires biosecurity audits on previously infected farms, or farms placed within a buffer zone of a control area, to be eligible for indemnities.

"In principle, this change would appear to enhance biosecurity measures and accountability for indemnity, but the rule was rushed," the letter states. "As a result, nearly no auditors have been trained to complete these audits, and the audit itself was posted in draft form. USDA should provide adequate numbers of qualified auditors prior to enforcement of the rule."

The letter explains that "current indemnity rates for laying hens and pullets are based on inaccurate data and are artificially low" and offers solutions on how to address that, including an egg industry proposal to revise the calculations relying on data from USDA and land grant institutions that would make the indemnities "fairer."

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"Even with revisions to indemnity formulas proposed by egg farmers, these payments will not come close to making producers whole for their losses. In reviewing indemnity activities, we would also urge you to ensure proper outreach to all farmers," the letter says.

The bipartisan letter was signed by Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith, Raphael Warnock, Mark Warner and Jon Ossoff, and Republicans Sens. Bernie Moreno, Jerry Moran, Roger Marshall, Todd Young, Dave McCormick, Ted Budd, Thom Tillis and Chuck Grassley. 

"I’m working to protect and preserve the livelihoods of our farmers, the stability of our local economies, and our food supply chain impacted by the spread of HPAI," Ernst told Fox News Digital in a statement. "By partnering with the Trump administration to identify solutions, we can ensure our producers have the tools they need to stop avian flu." 

American farmers and those in the agricultural business continue to reel over the spread of H5N1 bird flu, which apparently shows no sign of slowing to "disaster" status, FOX Business previously reported. 

"The real crisis is that we're going through the worst bird flu outbreak that we've had in the last 10 years since 2015, potentially the worst bird flu outbreak that we've ever had in the history of this country," Eggs Unlimited Vice President Brian Moscogiuri said on "Fox & Friends" last week. 

"We've lost 120 million birds since the beginning of 2022. In the last few months alone, since the middle of October, we've lost 45 million egg-laying hens," he added. "We've lost a significant amount of production, more than 13%. So we're just dealing with supply shortages. And it's just a disaster right now because this virus is in three of the top egg-laying states in the country. It doesn't seem like it's stopping anytime soon."

During her confirmation hearing, Rollins said she is "hyper focused" on finding the team to combat bird flu and other diseases.

"Secretary Rollins received the letter from Sen. Ernst and her colleagues yesterday," a USDA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

"She will respond in short order and is looking forward to working with Sen. Ernst and her colleagues to tackle this critical issue. The Biden administration failed to sufficiently address the avian flu, and his inflationary economic policies only made the problem worse. The American people deserve affordable eggs, and Secretary Rollins is fully committed to taking aggressive action to combat the avian flu and help lower the price of eggs. She is working with the White House to implement a comprehensive strategy that will be rolled out very soon."

Fox News Digital's Kristen Altus contributed to this report