The vice president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture for Lambton-Middlesex says the impacts of avian influenza could be devastating to area farmers but it could also affect consumers with possible price increases at grocery stores.
Lambton Public Health (LPH) detected H5N1 avian influenza in birds within the county last week.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) lists two active investigations at commercial poultry productions, both in Lambton Shores. Between the two, approximately 40,000 birds will have been euthanized.
"They lose that level of income, plus by the time they get the barns cleaned and changed over, in some cases it'll be close to a year or a year-and-a-half before they can repopulate their barns again," said OFA Vice President Crispin Colvin. "So from an income standpoint, it's devastating to those farmers."
The CFIA said the length of time it takes to clean out an infected barn depends on its size and operations.
"Each infected premises must complete several steps after the infected birds are destroyed before the premises is released from quarantine," read an emailed statement to Sarnia News Today. "The length of time it can take to complete this step is dependent on the size and complexity of the farm operation and the human and equipment resources available."
The viral disease mostly affects domestic poultry and wildlife such as geese, ducks, and shore birds. Colvin said it's also a challenge for area farmers trying to navigate the airborne illness.
"You're bringing air into the barns to keep the birds cool and keep them fresh and keep the air clean, but at the same time, you don't realize if you're bringing in avian influenza from overhead flocks that are going south for the winter," he said. "It's devastating for the farmers who are faced with this, there'll be insurance and compensation but it's not the same."
As for consumers, Colvin said it's possible that the cost of poultry and eggs will go up.
"So right now, we're fortunate, we're holding our own in terms of eggs but it won't surprise me with the challenges, that the price of eggs is going to go up and it wouldn't surprise me if we started to see it between $7 and $8 [per] dozen."
Colvin said exporting eggs from the U.S. wouldn't be a viable option as they too are dealing with cases of avian influenza.
LPH said no human cases of avian influenza have been detected.
