Bird flu outbreak in Iowa

Many of the 3.8 million egg-laying hens in an Iowa flock probably have bird flu as the biggest single outbreak of the virus reported in the U.S. added to concerns that turkey and egg supplies will be hampered by the disease.

“Despite best efforts, we now confirm many of our birds are testing positive” for avian influenza, closely held Sonstegard Foods Co. said in a statement dated April 20. The company said its Sunrise Farms unit close to Harris, Iowa, in Osceola County has 3.8 million hens. (Bloomberg)

It is scary to contemplate that millions of live stocks can be wiped out by a single strain of virus. But this is a direct consequence of industrial farming. This type of industrialization is very profitable and can scale to meet demand of consumers however they are also very fragile.

We need to introduce more resilience into our system and society. We are facing more and more of environmental consequences of our actions.