Will Avian Flu Change The Food System?

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

There is an agenda in everythign in life, it seems, and there are several in the avian flu epidemic.

Some bakers are experimenting witih ways to make products using alternatie ingredients and fewer eggs.  They claim vegetable components use less resources such as land and water than does raising chickens for eggs.  They're also trying to deal with the higher cost of eggs.

The practice of raising hens in confined, large laying facilities is under attack as an example of a weakness in the egg industry structure if one disease can affect such a large part of the industry.

http://harvestpublicmedia.org/content/some-hope-bird-flu-crisis-brings-change-food-system-0?utm_sour...

[BA Deere]

I`m not a fan of the industrialization of agriculture, so I guess read my comments with that in mind. This whole avian flu deal is made worse because of biggness.  Okay a infected migrating goose flies over a chicken farm and poops, the poop gets sucked through the chicken house ventilating fans and 1 million birds start coughing and croak, the farm manager calls the government and they euthanize the other 5 million birds, if it isn`t reported the farm won`t get reimbursed for the expense...but all the birds are killed.  Manure may have been spread and the wind carries the virus to other chickenhouses, next thing you know half the nation`s poultry supply is affected.

Now, these wild birds are immune to avian flu.  If a flock of domestic birds are infected, they are all euthanized...maybe if they were allowed to live, some would show signs of natural immunity...but we`ll never know because entire flocks are killed.

In the olden days every farm had a small flock of chickens a goose flying over pooping might not reach the barnyard flock, there wasn`t any ventilation fans, that flock was "free range".  Or if a small flock did have a sickness, the small farmer wasn`t "sophisticated" enough to call the government to kill his entire herd.  He`d experiment with home remedies..maybe he`d lose most of his flock, but if there was some survivors with natural immunity, he would rebuild with the survivors.

Anyway, just this ol` boy`s  2¢ 

[Kay/NC]

Jim, I have eggless recipes dating back to the Civil War, and others from WW II rationing. That is nothing new, and it works onky to a point. They will have to create new nutrition labelling when substituting, for sure.

If we change existing supplies, where is the market I bring my fresh eggs to? I hauled a few hundred dozen a week in High School and college, but how do you pencil out $4 a gallon on an egg route?

How does traceability fit it? Salmonella is as bad or worse with backyard flocks, for starters.

I think this will settle down when this epidemic passes. Eggs are a great and inexpensive protein, not just a baking ingredient.

[wrightcattle]

it's a pretty Effficient disease.

[Kay/NC]

So are PEDV and PRRS 174. The last two years in hogs have been a real walk in the park.....

[NewAgJudge]

1- A goose doesn't poop in flight.

2- I agree with you about experimenting to develop immunity.

3- Our flock of old, young, purebreds, and mutts run in and out all day amongst breeding and  pooping starlings, sparrows, pigeons and barn swallows. NO flu.

3- You cant be a " Big Shot " ( your words ) with Farm Bureau and against industrialization of Agriculture at the same time.

Try to find a way to be true yourself, you can't be both ways.

[BA Deere]

Well, any bird can poop in flight, I just singled out geese to add a little levity to my post, but feathers, poop falling off of their big clodhopper feet or any other migrating bird. The wind and the soil is spreading this flu and ventilation fans sucking it in buildings.  Maybe if they want to keep on being bigshots, they`ll have to put filters on their venilating fans that spritz a little Lysol?

The Farm Bureau protects ALL farmers large and small and sometimes when they go to bat for the bigshots, us little guys feel they help the very ones that want to run us out of business. But in reality "the rain falls on both the righteous and wicked alike" so, the bigshot can hire lawyers and stuff to navigate through the back breaking regulations, where the little guy would just go broke without the Farm Bureau going to bat for him or her.  The funny thing is those doing the heavy lifting on promoting agriculture are the little guys, the real bigshots don`t "waste" their time flipping burgers at the Farm Bureau tent, they probably aren`t even current on their FB membership.

[ECIN]

A goose may not poop in flight - but A seagull do's ! One got my wife sitting in the stands at Daytona -And  Boy she wasn't happy either -

[BA Deere]

   i`ve had that happen, it isn`t funny until years later.  Those Seagulls like to follow a moldboard plow, they get pretty brave.

[sw363535]

Don't poop in flight?????  I want to meet the researcher that studdied that one....   It must be unkooth.......

But realisticly,  consider this "what would be the result of turning back the clock and feeding 400m+ population with lassie and the kids playing in the poop while they're watching out for enough free range chickens, to get the job done..."

Stop voting for idiots.......