Ag Director discusses egg price at Andalusia Rotary

State of Alabama Ag Commissioner Rick Pate talked chickens and eggs with members of the Andalusia Rotary Club on Tuesday.

Pate who is from Lownesboro The Lownesboro native said that the spike in egg prices over the past year is caused by avian influenza. noting that Alabama’s poultry industry was not affected by the two outbreaks of the fatal virus.

“We’ve always been able to find the bird (around),” he stated. “It is found in wood ducks as well as other birds however people don’t want to eliminate them..

There’s a lot of biosecurity within the industry of poultry, Pate said. However, in the past this virus “got out of control,” first in wild ducks.

“We had an avian flock that was in the backyard of Moulton which began to die,” he said. “We examined them and discovered that they were high in pathogens for the avian influenza.”

Alabama is the second-highest in the nation for broiler eggs, Pate stated, yet it’s significantly lower in table egg production.

“That’s most of the time located in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana,” he said. “We don’t have any of the area.”

Laying hens are kept in greater numbers than broilers.

“If there’s an issue (in Alabama), we visit, eliminate the problem within a matter of minutes, and then burn all dead animals. It could be anywhere from fifteen to twenty thousand birds.”

He also mentioned the recent outbreak of egg production where more than one million chickens were killed.

According to the USDA estimate that 43 million bird eggs had been wiped out all over the nation to stop spreading the disease. As of December 20, 2022 U.S. egg inventories were 29 percent lower in the last week of the month of December 2022 compared to time of year’s beginning. The prices were up 210 percent according to USDA.

“It was similar to the COVID toilet paper disaster,” Pate said. “We could have changed our processes and continued to increase production. We were aware that the demand would drop at an epoch.”

“We believe that prices for eggs will continue to rise until Easter, since they do every year however, they’ll eventually drop,” he said.

There’s been virtually no Avian Influenza in Alabama’s broiler populations, the official said. However, state farmers have increased security measures to keep the illness at the horizon. Alabama poultry farmers slaughter 23 million birds per week, he added.

Great Chicken Rescue Great Chicken Rescue

Concerning poultry, Pate stated that she was aware that the Department of Ag and Industries has also been asked to combat chickens.

“In Alabama, it’s illegal to fight chickens and it ought to have been,” he said. “But you are not prohibited to breed and sell chickens that fight. In certain parts of the country there are fights between them and it’s legal to bet on it. However, we don’t have guns or badges, so this isn’t our issue.”

until it’s.

Pate recalls receiving a phone message to her Department of Justice informing the department that the U.S. Marshals wanted to eliminate the cockfighting operation after it was uncovered.

“Actually we refer to them as”avian athletes” since it’s more respectable,” Pate said. “So the DOJ requested that we send a team following the fact that they had arrested them all.

“But they didn’t know that the owner would be the most successful person within the town,” Pate said. “He hires a lawyer and seeks a federal court to grant him a stay to ensure the owner can keep his 1,500 birds as athletes.

“DOJ did not want to release the birds and we didn’t want them either, therefore, judges said ‘OK. 30 days. You can keep them.’ ”

Then, a few days after it was discovered that days later, the Ag Department was poised for an additional trip when Pate received a phone call to his house from his colleague in Vermont. The Vermont Ag Commissioner called to ask about the ‘avian athletes.’

“We cannot allow you to kill the gorgeous poultry,” the man told Pate. “We’ve had a group of vegetarians who wants to take them in and then rehab them.”

Pate advised the boys to go down and have everything they desired.

A rescuer drove around 1100 miles to arrive with several cages large enough, Pate remembered.

“He was thinking of putting 7 or 8 birds into an enclosure,” he said.

Pate was required explained to Pate that it was fine to bring the birds, at when he returned to Vermont the birds would one live bird within each cage.

The suspect was granted a second 30 day stay, then was selling them as quickly as possible. At the time that the time of expiration it was clear that he had sold the majority of the birds.

In the end, Pate said, the Vermont rescuer moved 100 birds from Vermont north.

“Last check, the director on the other side of the fence said that the chickens are doing well and are being treated for a variety of ailments. We’re hoping they live many years of fruitful and long-lasting lives.”

Eat Local

Pate also discussed an initiative that he initiated during his first term to encourage Alabama schools to incorporate Alabama products for school lunches.

Making use of an Minnesota program as an example the Department obtained state funds which it utilized as incentives. It offered the school system 25 cents for each product of food that they served.

In the first year, he noted the program resulted in more than half a million portions of Alabama-grown foods to be offered in schools. The number of meals served has grown over time He said, however, the program was implemented by well-off schools.

Schoolchildren in rural areas now receive more local food, he added because of an federal program.

“The president decided that he wanted to assist farmers.” Pate said. “So we received $4 million that we could use for local food purchases in rural areas that aren’t well-served. We were able to return to help the students which was also a huge blessing to Alabama agriculturalists.”

Federal programs also permits donations to food banks.

Pate attended the dinner party of Andalusia Rotary Club Baynard Ward.

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