High-Path Avian Flu continues to be a presence in the ag community. One dairy co-op says it does not think the changing of Administrations will impact safeguards already in place.
“If there’s a vaccine coming soon, is this only going to be a short-term pilot, and so I’m sure USDA is weighing all that. We have a new administration coming in, but this is, I would say, very scientifically focused, and we’re not guessing that there will be much change with the administration change. However, that’s always possible. We want to preserve our foreign markets, and when we’re talking about tariffs and other things with other countries, how we talk about this and when we talk about it and why we talk about becomes more important. So, even that USDA is doing a surveillance program, we want to be supportive in helping them build the best thing they can because if they’re saying this is to preserve export markets, I hope dairy farmers realize whether you ship to the cheese plant down the road or one that’s shipping to Mexico every single day, this affects our milk price no matter who you are and where you are,” said Executive Director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association Lucas Sjostrom.
Sjostrom says every producer wants to eradicate the virus, but it is a new endeavor for each of them.
