Pennsylvania Boosts Poultry Industry Amid Avian Flu Crisis

By Blake Jackson

Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding highlighted the support Governor Josh Shapiro’s Administration is providing to Pennsylvania’s $7.1 billion poultry industry amid the ongoing battle against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

Measures include enforcing strong biosecurity protocols, providing education, dedicating personnel for rapid response, expanding disease testing, and creating the nation’s only HPAI Recovery Fund to help farmers recover losses.

“Government and industry working together in a crisis makes the critical difference between failing and getting back to business. This avian influenza outbreak has been the biggest animal health crisis in American history. And Pennsylvania is getting back to business because our skilled response team has been unwavering in their dedication through bitter cold and brutal heat, working under extreme pressure alongside farmers and other industry professionals whose livelihoods are at stake," said Sec. Redding.

"Their teamwork has been the hallmark of this response from the beginning. At the same time, the Shapiro Administration’s unwavering support for Pennsylvania farmers is bringing the right people, the right funding, and the right resources to bear on getting poultry businesses back up and running quickly and safely.”

Affected producers can apply for HPAI Recovery Grants funded by Pennsylvania’s HPAI Recovery Fund, which received $75 million from 2022 to 2024, with $59.45 million remaining. So far, 150 farmers have used grants to strengthen biosecurity on their operations.

Testing remains critical, with Pennsylvania’s three-lab Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System examining 672,342 samples from July 2024 to June 2025, including over 200,000 poultry samples.

Governor Shapiro secured $6 million for a fourth lab at Penn State Beaver and proposed $11 million in the 2026-27 budget to support agricultural preparedness and lab operations.

HPAI continues to threaten Pennsylvania’s poultry industry. Since February 2022, the state has lost more than 9.5 million birds across commercial and backyard flocks.

In the past month, confirmed infections affected two commercial and seven backyard flocks, totaling 2,294,640 birds, including a Lancaster County commercial flock of 722,100 birds.

Photo Credit: gettyimages-branex