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Tag: Agriculture
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Bird flu ripping through California dairy farms
Bird flu ripping through California dairy farms – CBS News -
Egg prices are threatening a classic holiday tradition: Easter dye kits
Melkinimages | E+ | Getty Images
The egg aisle is anything but cheaper by the dozen these days — and that’s becoming a big problem ahead of the Easter holiday.
The makers of Easter egg dye kits are bracing for the potential fallout if the egg shortage doesn’t begin to clear up before the April 20 holiday. For many companies that specialize in these activity sets, egg dye kits and related products make up a significant share of annual revenue. Diminished sales could have a major impact on their bottom lines.
“I think sales will be down,” said Ashley Phelps, founder and CEO of Color Kitchen, a plant-based baking decoration company. “That remains to be seen, but I think it probably will be.”
Wholesale egg prices have eclipsed record levels, reaching a high of $8.58 per dozen amid a domestic bird flu outbreak, according to global commodity data firm Expana. More than 52 million egg-laying birds have died, leaving the national flock at just 280 million, a critically low level, said Ryan Hojnowski, a market reporter at Expana.
He noted that rising prices have slowed consumer demand as retail egg prices average around $6 per dozen or higher. Additionally, many stores have implemented purchasing limits, restricting the number of cartons that customers can buy at one time.
The combination of inflated price and limited availability could curtail sales of eggs for the Easter holiday, ultimately affecting the demand for egg dye kits.
Natural Earth Paint, a company that manufactures natural art supplies and craft kits for kids, typically sells between 40,000 and 50,000 egg dye kits around the Easter holiday, according to founder Leah Fanning. So far this year, the company’s retail partners have ordered only 7,000 kits.
“It’s definitely a huge drop,” Fanning said, noting that most buyers have cited the egg shortage for the smaller orders.
Fanning told CNBC that the egg dye kits have been Natural Earth Paint’s bestselling product for 13 years and kept the company in business for its first eight years. Of the company’s more than 40 products, the egg dye kit remains its “absolute bestseller.”
She noted that while the majority of Natural Earth Paint’s sales come from retail locations, online sales typically pick up around three weeks before Easter. That leaves the chance that direct-to-consumer sales could get a boost in mid-March.
A sign in a supermarket in New York City asks customers to limit their purchase of eggs to one carton, Feb. 13, 2025. The avian flu epidemic in the U.S. has sharply reduced the supply and raised the prices of eggs.
Anadolu | Getty Images
Color Kitchen said its Easter items represent 20% of the company’s total stock of items and outpace sales of all other items, including its Christmas icing kits.
Phelps noted that most retailers order these egg kits months ahead of the holiday to ensure they are in stock immediately after Valentine’s Day. She said retailers “took a little less product this year” given sensitivity to the inflationary environment.
“The other concern is that, some of the grocery stories, if they don’t sell through, then we get charged back for product that goes discounted to try and move it out of the store,” Phelps said. “So, that’s where we’ll get hit if the stuff that’s already been shipped out to grocery stores does not sell. That could potentially be very bad.”
Phelps said 75% of Color Kitchen sales are from the shelf. The remaining 25% is from direct-to-consumer sales on its website and on sites such as Amazon.
Walking on eggshells
There are some companies that still expect to see solid business this Easter. The holiday takes place in late April, giving companies three more weeks of sales compared with last year.
Hey Buddy Hey Pal, a company that makes the Eggmazing Egg Decorator, a crafting tool that spins eggs so kids can use markers to color them, generates between 85% and 90% of its annual revenue from its Easter product. Last year, the company generated $14 million in sales, a 22% bump from the year prior.
Curtis McGill, co-founder of Hey Buddy Hey Pal, said retailers have ordered fewer of its products this year. Still, the company said it expects another jump of 18% in annual revenue as it’s set to sell between 600,000 and 700,000 egg decorators this year.
Even as egg prices boil over, some dye kit makers see egg decorating as an essential tradition that few families will opt to skip, even if they reduce the number of eggs they use.
Paas, the leader in the egg dye kit space, expects that some families will decorate fewer eggs this year, but said many will still participate in the tradition.
“It’s just such a sticky tradition,” said Joe Ens, CEO of Signature Brands, which owns the 140-year-old iconic Paas brand.
The company recently completed a survey of 120 consumers and found that 94% of them still plan on decorating eggs this holiday.
“And the reason for that, other than the tradition being so important to consumers, is if you really break down the cost of the tradition, it is arguably the most affordable family tradition during any holiday,” he said.
Paas expects to sell more than 10 million kits this year, one of the company’s strongest sell-ins ever, he said.
Arts and crafts store chain Michaels said it’s already seeing shoppers opt for egg-inspired products. The company told CNBC that 43% of its total Easter sales so far this year have been for plaster, plastic and craft eggs.
Michaels said a particular craft egg kit designed to “mimic the traditional egg-decorating experience” is selling nearly three times faster than the company had anticipated.
Similarly, Hey Buddy Hey Pal expects some families may opt to purchase wooden eggs instead of real ones. Though the alternatives are typically more expensive than real eggs, they’re an opportunity to keep the creations around long after the holiday is over.
“A lot could happen between now and then, we can continue to see an outbreak of avian flu and some different egg farms that hadn’t been affected,” said McGill. “It could get worse before it gets better. That’s not the projections, but at this point … I’m just gonna hold my breath until we get to April the 20th.”
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Trump’s drive to reshape government threatens bird flu response
A rooster roams on a farm on January 23, 2023 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
As avian flu drives egg prices to record levels and increasingly poses a risk to humans, moves by the White House to cut spending and restrict communications have hobbled public health officials’ response, with the new administration yet to outline a clear strategy on how it plans to stem the spread of the virus.
State and local public health officials have gone weeks without regular updates on avian flu from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after President Donald Trump froze nearly all external communications from the agency, said a person familiar with the situation. It wasn’t until this week that some of those communications began to resume, the person said.
Widespread funding cuts across the government and new restrictions on funding for National Institutes of Health grants have also created uncertainty among infectious disease researchers and local health officials, who are unsure about what resources they will have to work with going forward. Meanwhile, cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development have limited monitoring of the virus overseas.
“When you add that uncertainty, it plays into what health departments can do when their entire funding situation is at risk,” said Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. “It makes it even harder to do more when you don’t think you’ll have the resources or they might get pulled out from under you.”
At the same time, key positions in the Trump administration central to responding to the threat of a pandemic have remained unfilled. And the secretaries running the Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments weren’t confirmed until this week, though bird flu was one of the first items on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ agenda after her confirmation.
The disruptions come at a potentially perilous time. The virus has been decimating poultry flocks, causing egg prices to more than double. It has been showing signs it can evolve to more easily thrive in a variety of species, including a new strain detected among dairy cattle this month. While there are no indications the virus can be transmitted among humans, at least 68 people in the U.S. have contracted avian flu and one person has died, according to the CDC. Researchers worry that the more the virus replicates, the more opportunities it will have to develop a mutation that would enable it to spread easily from human to human.
“This is getting more and more dangerous and urgent, and the scientific community is setting off alarm flares,” said Stephen Morrison, who directs the global health policy center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But are they translating into the government moving at a faster pace or with a different resolve? No. Instead, we’re in a period of confused transition that’s been made worse by the disruptions in government function and the normal slowness of getting the new team in.”
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment on its strategy for addressing avian flu and what additional steps it planned to take to address the spread of the virus.
Rollins, who was confirmed by the Senate Thursday, told reporters that she had a briefing in the Oval Office Thursday night and would be announcing more on the department’s plan to address egg prices “in the coming days.”
“We are looking at every possible scenario to ensure that we are doing everything we can in a safe, secure manner, but also to ensure that Americans have the food that they need,” Rollins said when asked about the price of eggs. “And as a mom of four teenagers, actually, I fully understand and feel the pain of the cost of these eggs.”
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said in an interview on MSNBC Thursday that the Trump administration would soon have a strategy now that Rollins has been confirmed.
“It turns out, President Biden’s team didn’t have an avian flu strategy, and now we’re about to have one, as soon as Brooke Rollins is at the Department of Agriculture,” said Hassett.
In a statement on egg prices earlier this week, the White House said Rollins would take “bold, decisive action to address the crisis” by refocusing the agency tasked with stopping the spread of the virus among animals “on its core mission: protecting the health of the United States’ plants, animals, and natural resources while simultaneously lowering costs.”
So far, though, public health officials say the White House has created more confusion than clarity.
In West Virginia, Michael Kilkenny, head of the Huntington Health Department, said he hasn’t been getting regular updates from the CDC for the past several weeks.
“We just don’t know what’s happening right now. We don’t know if this is expanding into our area if we aren’t getting that communication from the CDC,” said Kilkenny. “In more rural areas, there are small health departments that, without the information they need coming from the CDC, they’re not going to be able to inform their small-flock farmers, poultry farmers or higher-risk agricultural workers that depend on the local health department for information or services.”
The prospect of potential federal funding cuts have also caused his and other health departments he works with to begin contingency planning and put hiring and new projects on hold.
“We are holding on hiring and we are holding on planning while we are waiting to see that there is clear evidence that things are going to be funded before we can spend our work time planning or even submitting for a project,” said Kilkenny. “That is how this disrupts us.”
Along with limiting CDC communications with local health officials, the World Health Organization has also been receiving limited information on the spread of avian flu in the U.S. since Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the global health organization, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Feb. 12 press conference.
The “near-total communication freeze” at public health agencies “is deeply unprecedented, and that alone scares me more than anything else,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the pandemic center at the Brown University School of Public Health.
Nearly a month in, Trump has yet to name an official to head the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, which was created in 2022 by Congress to coordinate pandemic response across agencies. During the campaign, Trump said he would likely get rid of the office and criticized President Joe Biden’s efforts to prepare for another pandemic.
“He wants to spend a lot of money on something that you don’t know if it’s gonna be 100 years or 50 years or 25 years,” Trump said of Biden in a July interview with Time magazine. “And it’s just a way of giving out pork.”
“It doesn’t mean that we’re not watching out for it all the time,” Trump said. “But it’s very hard to predict what’s coming because there are a lot of variations of these pandemics.”
Trump’s key Cabinet officials who will be overseeing the federal response have given little insight into their strategy.
Rollins said during her Senate confirmation hearing last month that one of her top four priorities would be to put a team in place to stem the spread of avian flu, though she didn’t say what changes she would like to see the Agriculture Department make.
“There is a lot that I have to learn on this, and if confirmed, this will be, as I mentioned in my opening statement, one of the very top priorities,” Rollins said when asked about her response to avian flu. “We are hyperfocused on finding the team right now. I’m sure they’re already working. I have, obviously, respected the process and not gotten too involved. I know that the current team and the future team will be working hand in hand to do everything we can on animal disease.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, said during his confirmation hearing that he would focus more on tackling chronic disease, like heart disease and diabetes, and less on infectious diseases. When asked about devoting resources to avian flu during his confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he “intends to devote the appropriate resources to preventing pandemics. That’s essential for my job.”
Previously, Kennedy has said the currently available vaccines for avian flu that the U.S. has stockpiled may be dangerous and ineffective. Researchers are working on developing a new generation of avian flu vaccines based on the same mRNA technology used to develop the Covid vaccines, which Kennedy called the “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” though studies have shown it to be safe.
Kennedy has also been a proponent of drinking raw milk, which can put people at risk of foodborne illness, including avian flu. The CDC has warned that it might be possible to contract bird flu from drinking raw milk and urged Americans to drink only pasteurized milk.
Agriculture industry officials and infectious disease researchers have been calling on the federal government to significantly ramp up its response with greatly expanded testing, funding for research to better understand the virus and develop new treatments, and more assistance for dairy farmers to encourage them to test their cattle.
The United Egg Producers, an advocacy group for the egg industry, is urging the federal government and Congress to devote more resources to researching how the virus is spreading and evolving and to develop more effective and widespread vaccinations for animals. The industry group has also been calling for more rules and enforcement around the testing and movement of animals, and additional funding for local laboratories to provide quick and accurate test results.
“Our industry needs more from our state and federal government animal health partners — and we need it fast,” the United Egg Producers said in a statement.
The organization says its industry has lost more than 100 million egg-laying hens since 2022, including more than 29 million over the past four months. Once a flock of birds is infected with the highly pathogenic strain of the avian flu, the virus quickly spreads and is fatal in the vast majority of birds. When a flock becomes infected, farmers and veterinarians are supposed to notify the USDA, which will kill the entire flock and decontaminate the facilities. The federal government reimburses the farmers for the live birds that are culled in the process.
Public health researchers have said the Biden administration didn’t react quickly enough to stop the spread of the virus among dairy cattle after it was first detected in herds in March. It wasn’t until December that the Agriculture Department rolled out a national milk testing program, and three of the country’s top milk-producing states still aren’t a part of that federal surveillance effort.
The Trump administration will have to work with officials in states that still aren’t regularly testing their milk to try to get them on board, said Morrison. Texas’ state agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller, told NBC News that surveillance milk testing was unnecessary in Texas since there weren’t any active cases of bird flu in the state’s commercial cattle or poultry.
“From April until the end of the Biden administration, the response was slow and sluggish,” said Morrison. “We are still not testing animals and humans at the level that is needed, we still don’t have a coherent strategy and a system of accountability, and we still don’t have in place the kind of compensation mechanisms needed for those dairy farmers who suffer losses because of infections in their herds.”
Researchers worry the U.S. is running out of time to strengthen its response.
“If we don’t act now, we’re only giving the virus more opportunity to continue to adapt and potentially evolve into something more dangerous in a human population,” said Erin Sorrell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Now is the time to act.”
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FTC sues Deere, alleging equipment repair ‘monopoly’ raises costs for farmers
John Deere booth signage is displayed at CES 2023 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 6, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
David Becker | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission has sued agricultural equipment giant Deere & Company, arguing it holds a monopoly on repair services that raises costs and creates delays for farmers, the agency announced Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges Deere has for decades hindered customers’ ability to repair their equipment, including tractors and combines, forcing them to rely on the company’s network of authorized repair providers. A Deere software tool called “Service ADVISOR,” which is only available to more expensive authorized dealers, is necessary to fully fix equipment, leaving farmers and independent repair providers unable to do it themselves, the FTC alleged.
The FTC said authorized dealers often use Deere-branded parts instead of less expensive generic ones for repair jobs, adding to Deere’s profits.
“Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating for farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a news release. “The FTC’s action today seeks to ensure that farmers across America are free to repair their own equipment or use repair shops of their choice—lowering costs, preventing ruinous delays, and promoting fair competition for independent repair shops.”
The states of Illinois and Minnesota are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to make Service ADVISOR and other necessary repair resources available to Deere customers and independent repair providers. Other manufacturing companies in the trucking and auto industries provide the required information for generic repair tool developers, the FTC said.
In a statement, Denver Caldwell, Deere’s vice president of aftermarket and customer support, said it is “extremely disappointing that three Commissioners of the FTC chose to file a meritless lawsuit on the eve of the transition to a new Administration.”
“Our recent discussions with the Commission have revealed that the agency still lacked basic information about the industry and John Deere’s business practices and confirmed that the agency was instead relying on inaccurate information and assumptions,” Caldwell added.
The company said it “has introduced a number of new innovations, tools, and resources to equip customers and independent repair technicians with the maintenance and repair needs of our equipment.”
Deere shares fell less than 1% on Wednesday afternoon.
The lawsuit comes in the final days of President Joe Biden’s term in the White House and Khan’s tenure at the FTC, during which the agency has taken an aggressive approach to antitrust. It is unclear if President-elect Donald Trump’s administration will continue to pursue the suit against Deere.
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Govt Pegs India’s GDP Growth At 6.4 Per Cent For 2024-25; Agriculture Bounces Back, Services Surge
New Delhi: India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow at 6.4 per cent in the financial year 2024-25 down from 8.2 per cent growth recorded in 2023-24, according to the first advance estimates released by the Ministry of Statistics on Tuesday.
The projection is lower than the recent RBI’s estimate of 6.6 per cent for the current fiscal year but India still remains the fastest-growing major economy in the world with China’s growth rate slipping to below 5 per cent.
The agriculture, construction and services sectors have emerged as the bright spots, recording an acceleration in the rate of growth compared to the previous year, the figures show.
Agriculture and allied sectors are estimated to grow by 3.8 per cent during 2024-25 as compared to the growth of 1.4 per cent witnessed during the last year. The construction sector and financial, real estate, and professional services sectors are estimated to observe good growth rates of 8.6 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively.
There has also been a pick up in the private final consumption expenditure, which has witnessed a growth rate of 7.3 per cent during this fiscal over the growth rate of 4 per cent in the previous year, according to the official statement.
The Government’s final consumption expenditure has rebounded to a growth rate of 4.1 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 2.5 per cent in the previous financial year, adding to the overall demand in the economy, the figures show.
Releasing the first advance estimates of national income for 2024-25, the NSO said, “Real GDP has been estimated to grow by 6.4 per cent in FY2024-25 as compared to the growth rate of 8.2 per cent in Provisional Estimate (PE) of GDP for FY2023-24”.
The figures have been released ahead of the Union Budget 2024-25, underscoring the need to spur growth with continued investments in large infrastructure projects and focus on maintaining the momentum in the agriculture sector.
India’s economy clocked a GDP growth rate of 5.4 per cent for the second quarter (July-September) of the current financial year which was a marked slowdown over the previous quarter.
The unexpected slowdown in the second quarter prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to lower its estimate for the growth forecast to 6.6 per cent, from the earlier projection of 7.2 per cent.
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Here’s how U.S. health officials are responding to bird flu in humans after second case
Cows are seen standing in a feedlot on June 14, 2023 in Quemado, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
U.S. health officials are monitoring and preparing to combat bird flu in humans, even as they emphasize that the risk to the general public remains low.
A strain of bird flu called H5N1 has been confirmed in dairy cows across nine U.S. states, as well as in two people, amid a global outbreak among poultry and other animals. The latest case was announced Wednesday in a dairy farm worker in Michigan. A child in Australia was also recently infected with bird flu, the country announced Tuesday.
H5N1 has been spreading among more animal species worldwide since 2020, but its detection in U.S. livestock earlier this year was a twist health officials did not expect. In rare cases, bird flu viruses spread to humans and can cause mild to severe symptoms that can require hospitalization.
There is currently no evidence that H5N1 is spreading from person to person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also said the risk of infection is higher among farmworkers than in the general population.
Still, the U.S. government, along with state and local health departments, are monitoring new and emerging infections among humans and animals. Federal agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere have also tracked the H5N1 virus for years to monitor its evolution.
The U.S. government has long stockpiled vaccines and drugs to be used in a possible bird flu pandemic. Last week, it started the process of preparing nearly 5 million doses of vaccines expected to be well-matched against H5N1, among other efforts to respond, the Health and Human Services Department confirmed to CNBC.
Some infectious disease experts told CNBC the U.S. government appears to be generally prepared if bird flu begins to spread more widely and easily to humans, especially compared with how equipped the country was for the Covid pandemic. The experts said most of the necessary tools are already on hand but the government must ensure it deploys them effectively, if needed.
“There’s a lot of pieces that are already in place that help us understand that we can respond to this faster,” said Dr. Andrew Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “As is always the case, though, it’s about the efficiency of our responses, right? We know what we can do. We just have to be able to do it effectively.”
The latest human infection, in the Michigan dairy worker, is not a surprise, according to both experts and the government. The CDC said Wednesday that similar cases in humans could be identified because high levels of the virus have been found in raw milk from infected cows.
Millions of vaccine doses
The U.S. government currently has two vaccine virus candidates that it believes are a good match for H5N1. Those candidates are weakened versions of a virus that trigger a protective immune response against it in the body and can be used to produce vaccines.
Both of the candidates are already available to manufacturers, according to the CDC. The government last week started the process of manufacturing 4.8 million doses of those human vaccines in case they are needed, HHS confirmed.
Pekosz called those doses a “first line of defense in case we do see some human-to-human transmission.” He said that number is enough to stem an outbreak in its early stages, which could include vaccinating farm workers and some health-care workers.
But he said far more are needed for the more than 300 million people in the U.S. if the virus spreads widely among humans.
“Five million doesn’t really get us very far. It’s just a quick start,” Pekosz said.
U.S. health officials said May 1 that the government could ship more than 100 million doses of human bird flu vaccines within three to four months if needed, NBC News reported.
Notably, people will need two doses of a vaccine, meaning that 100 million doses is enough for only 50 million people. That suggests the U.S. would need roughly 600 million shots if it wanted to vaccinate the entire population.
The government faces a difficult decision on how many shots to prepare, especially since it takes a few months to make them.
“It’s either too little or too much. For example, if you make too much food, then a lot of food goes to waste,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at UCSF Health. “That’s really the whole big conundrum now with a vaccine whenever you have a potential threat. It’s the high cost and high-risk aspects.”
Chin-Hong said misinformation and vaccine hesitancy after Covid makes that decision all the more challenging. But he said he believes “you can never really invest too much” in preparing for potential pandemics, especially at a time when climate change, population growth and other factors make them increasingly likely to happen.
The Food and Drug Administration would need to approve bird flu vaccines before they roll out. But Pekosz said that will likely be a “rapid procedure” since the FDA is accustomed to clearing seasonal flu vaccines, which are made using the same manufacturing process as bird flu shots.
Potential mRNA shots
U.S. health officials are also in talks with messenger RNA vaccine makers about potential bird flu shots for humans. Few details have been shared about those negotiations, but HHS said a final announcement is expected soon.
Unlike traditional flu shots, mRNA works by teaching cells to produce a harmless piece of a virus, which triggers an immune response against certain diseases. It is the same technology both Pfizer and Moderna have used in their Covid vaccines.
Chin-Hong said mRNA vaccines could be updated more quickly to match the currently circulating strains of the bird flu. But he said those vaccines have their own challenges, such as needing to be stored at extremely cold temperatures.
In a statement to CNBC, Moderna confirmed that it is involved in negotiations with the government regarding its experimental pandemic influenza shot, mRNA-1018. It targets the exact strain of the virus responsible for the outbreak in dairy cattle.
The biotech company began testing that shot in an early- to mid-stage trial last summer.
Pfizer declined to confirm negotiations with the government. The company said it is continuing to monitor the spread of H5N1 and study its mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccine candidates in an early trial.
Virus surveillance and treatments
The CDC and its partners, including state and local health departments, use multiple surveillance systems to monitor seasonal influenza and other illnesses. They also have specialized methods to detect and monitor new flu viruses.
Seasonal influenza spreads mostly among humans with predictable peaks during the year, while bird flu spreads mostly among wild birds and other animals.
The CDC said it is looking for the spread of H5N1 to or among people in areas where the virus has been identified in animals or humans. So far, the agency has found “no indicators of unusual influenza activity in people,” including H5N1, according to an update on the agency’s site from last week.
The CDC also performs ongoing analyses of seasonal and new influenza viruses to identify genetic changes that might allow for them to cause more serious infections in humans, spread more easily to and between people or become less susceptible to vaccines and drugs.
While there is robust testing on the federal, state and local levels, it is far more difficult for an average person to self-screen and get diagnosed for bird flu like they can for Covid, Chin-Hong said. That’s “the big barrier, particularly in the populations that are getting affected now,” he said.
Chin-Hong is referring to farm workers, a large share of whom are immigrants, who may struggle to navigate the U.S. health system due to language barriers and health-care access.
If people do contract the virus, there are a few FDA-approved antiviral drugs for seasonal flu that can be used for bird flu. That includes Tamiflu, which is an oral prescription medication that should be taken within 48 hours of experiencing symptoms.
A Texas dairy farm worker who was diagnosed with bird flu in March was treated with an antiviral drug and recovered, according to a CDC report.
But Pekosz said the antiviral drugs in the nation’s stockpile are likely not enough for the vast majority of the population, so manufacturers may be asked to scale up supply.
The average person can protect themselves from bird flu by avoiding any living or dead animals that might be infected, such as livestock or chickens, according to Francesca Torriani, infectious disease specialist with UC San Diego Health.
People who need to make contact with those animals should wear the appropriate mask and eye protection and wash their hands afterward.
Torriani added that pasteurized milk and cheese are likely safer to consume than raw dairy products since the pasteurization process kills harmful bacteria.
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Rare human case of bird flu contracted in Texas following contact with dairy cattle
A rare human case of bird flu has been reported in Texas, after a person come into contact with cattle suspected of being infected. The announcement comes days after federal agencies said the virus had spread to dairy cattle across multiple states, including Texas.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said the patient’s only experienced symptom was eye inflammation. The person, who has remained unnamed, was tested late last week and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the results over the weekend. The person is now being treated with the antiviral medication oseltamivir, which according to the Mayo Clinic can be used to treat influenza A and B, as well as the swine flu.
Human cases of bird flu, otherwise known as H5N1, are known to produce a range of symptoms, including mild ones like eye infection and respiratory symptoms, to more severe, such as pneumonia and death, Texas officials said.
The CDC said this is only the second time that a person in the U.S. has contracted the bird flu, which typically infects wild birds but can spread to domestic species. It has killed millions of birds across the world in its latest outbreak and has also spread to other mammal populations, killing sea lions, seals and even a polar bear.
Last week federal agencies announced that dairy cattle are the latest animal group to have contracted a strain of the virus. Cattle in Texas, Kansas and Michigan are so far believed to be impacted, marking the first time that dairy cattle in the U.S. have dealt with this particular infection.
Although it has spread to at least one individual, the Texas health department said it remains “extremely rare” for bird flu to spread from person-to-person.
“Initial testing shows the virus has not changed in a way to make it more likely to spread among humans,” the department said. “DSHS is providing guidance to affected dairies about how to minimize workers’ exposure and how people who work with affected cattle can monitor for flu-like symptoms and get tested.”
The last time someone in the U.S. contracted bird flu was in Colorado in 2022. That person was involved in slaughtering poultry presumed to be infected, and later reported feeling fatigued. According to the CDC, that person recovered after being isolated and treated with oseltamivir.
“Human infections can happen when enough virus gets into a person’s eyes, nose, or mouth, or is inhaled,” the CDC said at the time. “People with close or lengthy unprotected contact (not wearing respiratory or eye protection) with infected birds or places that sick birds or their mucous, saliva, or feces have touched, may be at greater risk of H5N1 virus infection.”
What are the human symptoms of bird flu?
According to a health alert sent out to clinicians, signs and symptoms of bird flu in humans are similar to that of a typical flu. They include a fever of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or a feeling of being feverish, and chills, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headaches, fatigue, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and seizures. What most notably separates it from the seasonal flu, however, is eye redness, otherwise known as conjunctivitis.
“Because of this, healthcare providers including optometrists and ophthalmologists, should be aware of the potential of individuals presenting with conjunctivitis who have had exposure to affected animals,” the health alert says. “Reports of severe avian influenza A(H5N1) illness in humans have included fulminant pneumonia leading to respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, and death.”
Officials have emphasized that risk to general public remains low, and that practicing good hygiene can help prevent the spread of this and many other illnesses.
“People can protect themselves against flu by washing their hands often, covering their coughs and sneezes, not picking up dead birds and animals, and staying home if sick,” the health alert says.
Because dairy cattle have been impacted, officials have also warned against consuming raw unpasteurized milk, which can make humans ill even if it is not infected with bird flu. Milk purchased in stores is required to be pasteurized and is safe to drink, officials said.
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Govt aims to revitalise agri-sector | The Express Tribune
ISLAMABAD:
The government has outlined a series of initiatives to breathe new life into Pakistan’s agriculture sector. These include the formulation of a national seed policy and the introduction of the Agriculture Development Authority Act to facilitate corporate farming in Pakistan.
Sources informed The Express Tribune that the Ministry of Food has developed several initiatives and is in the process of consulting with all stakeholders, including provincial authorities. These initiatives aim to restructure the agriculture sector, addressing key challenges and fostering sustainable growth.
As part of this plan, the government is considering delisting underperforming seed companies that have failed to contribute positively to the introduction of quality seeds in Pakistan. Fraudulent practices by seed and pesticide companies have led to the collapse of the agriculture sector, with farmers falling victim to poor-quality seeds.
Sources in the food ministry said the ministry presented an action plan in a high-level meeting before the prime minister, outlining various components, including the finalisation of the Federal Seed Policy. The policy draft has been prepared, and consultations with provinces are on the agenda.
Agricultural Development Act for Corporate Farming
The government envisions opening up the agriculture sector to corporate companies, attracting investment and modern technology to boost crop yields. The Ministry of Food and National Security has prepared a draft for the Agricultural Development Authority Act, which is currently under consultation with provinces.
Under this act, companies can secure large land areas on long-term leases, expecting to bring in capital, machinery, equipment, skilled personnel, and global market connections. Unlike Pakistan’s current small-scale, family-owned, or tenant-operated farms, these corporate farms will be professionally managed, leading to increased efficiency and productivity.
Initial responses to the concept of corporate farming are positive, especially from Gulf countries seeking stable food sources. However, concerns have been raised about potential adverse effects on small farmers, herders, and local consumers, particularly regarding land and water allocation and potential food price hikes.
Framework for Land Usage
The federal government has urged the chief minister of Punjab to share the plan and legal requirements with other provinces to make identified land usable for investors and corporate farming. Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber-Pakhtukhwa (K-P) have been asked to provide timelines for the implementation of legal requirements similar to those followed by Punjab.
Read Despite progress, challenges persist in agriculture sector
The Ministry of Food has also been tasked with sharing comprehensive details, including eligibility criteria, the application process, and terms and conditions for obtaining land for corporate farming.
National Seed Policy
The government plans to rename the Federal Seed Policy as the National Seed Policy. The Ministry of Food Security aims to seek approval from relevant authorities in Pakistan to execute this plan. Additionally, there are plans to provide digital literacy training to Pakistani farmers, enabling them to adopt modern farming techniques. IT companies have initiated various projects globally, leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionise farming practices. The government aims to integrate these advancements into the agriculture sector.
Restructuring Seed Authority
To modernise the seed industry, the government plans to restructure the Seed Authority. A comprehensive plan is in place to introduce modern techniques and ensure the production and distribution of high-quality seeds. Additionally, underperforming seed companies that have hindered progress in the agriculture sector may face delisting.
Livestock and Horticulture Focus
The food ministry will conduct a market and investment pre-feasibility study in the livestock and horticulture sectors to evaluate investment potential and stimulate growth. The government aims to identify standard and uniform farm-level practices, preparing guidelines for streamlined farming processes at large, medium, and small farm levels. This approach seeks to guide farmers, particularly those with small holdings, toward enhanced productivity.
Overhaul of Departments
In an effort to enhance effectiveness, the government plans to overhaul the Department of Plant Protection and the Animal Quarantine Department. A study is being conducted to evaluate their performance and propose restructuring measures for the future. This initiative is crucial for responding to evolving threats to crops and livestock, implementing efficient quarantine measures, and ensuring overall biosecurity.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2024.
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Pee-cycling: Turning human urine into fertilizer
In Lissa Schneckenburger’s garden in Brattleboro, Vermont, the tomatoes seem happy; so do the bees. And the reason may be because of how she enriches the garden – with her own family’s urine. “When we tell people about it, they’re mostly confused,” Schneckenburger said. “They’re just like, ‘What? Why? What?’”
Welcome to the world of “pee-cycling” – where urine is not considered waste, but liquid gold.
Kim Nace is co-founder of the Rich Earth Institute, an organization developing ways to turn human urine into fertilizer. “People are usually a little taken aback,” she said, “but then I just kinda give ’em the real quick [pitch] – there’s nutrients in your urine, and we are figuring out how to capture those and use ’em in agriculture.”
What is in urine that plants need? “Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other trace minerals that come through our body as we eat our food and then use the toilet,” Nace said.
Rich Earth Institute collects about 12,000 gallons of urine a year, according to co-founder Abe Noe-Hays. They also deal with pee jokes on a daily basis.
CBS News
But theirs is a serious endeavor. Researchers around the U.S. and the world are studying urine recycling – in Sweden, Switzerland, France, South Africa and other countries. And the Rich Earth Institute regularly offers educational webinars.
When asked what would surprise people the most about collecting urine for fertilizer, Schneckenburger, who uses a special toilet, replied, “That it is clean, that it doesn’t look gross, and it doesn’t smell. And the privacy thing, too. That was a surprise to me. It’s totally quiet.”
There’s no flushing with the composting toilet, which is built with two compartments – one for liquid waste, one for solid. “Rich Earth comes with a big truck and a big hose, and they empty the urine tank twice a year,” she said.
And if you don’t happen to have a special toilet, the Rich Earth Institute offers a low-tech, portable urinal, suitable for men and women.
Rich Earth also makes it easy for donors to deliver their liquid waste to a downtown depot. It’s a process that requires no pouring.
Kevin O’Brien, a community tool librarian, has been bringing his urine here for three years. “For me, it takes me about a month to fill up a five-gallon jug, so I’m kind of coming to the depot about once a month to donate,” he said. His goal? To donate 100 gallons a year. (Those who do receive a lovely “Piss-Off” certificate from Rich Earth.)
Urine is typically free of harmful bacteria, but if it gets near solid waste, that could lead to disease. So, Abe Noe-Hays says that all of the urine collected by Rich Earth is pasteurized to federal standards. “It’s heated up, pathogens die, it cools back down, and then it leaves the machine,” he said.
And then, Arthur Davis transfers the clean urine from huge storage tanks to his truck’s containers – around a thousand gallons at a time.
On his big yellow truck (with the custom license plate “P4FARMS”), Davis oversees the entire collection and distribution process. He said, “We’re dealing with chemistry, we’re dealing with biology, we’re also dealing with psychology of people, because people have all kinds of thoughts about it.”
Today, he’s delivering to a true believer: Noah Hoskins, owner of the Bunker Farm. Hoskins says his grazing fields are thirsty for pee. “If you are taking nutrients out of the ground, you need to be replenishing those nutrients in some form or another,” he said.
A lot of pee-cycling is still in the research and development phase, but Noe-Hays imagines a bright, yellow future. “We’re not asking people to do something that’s difficult,” he said. “You just use the toilet. That thing you just did, that was great! You made something useful and you made something that’s going to do good in the world!”
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Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Joseph Frandino. -
Kinnow exports projected to decline by 50% | The Express Tribune
KARACHI:
The Kinnow industry is on the verge of collapse, with a projected 50% decline in exports and the closure of 50% of processing plants, warn leading exporters. Sharing a plethora of reasons with The Express Tribune, they highlight issues such as a shorter shelf life for Kinnow, lack of resistance to diseases, low-quality yield, seeds in the fruit, dull shell colour, bumper citrus crops in regional countries, hefty export taxes to Afghanistan, delayed import quotas from Indonesia’s government, and other challenges. The only saving grace, exporters note, is the superior taste of Kinnow.
Waheed Ahmed, Patron–in–Chief of All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association (PFVA), expressed concern about the falling export of Kinnow and urges the government to declare an agricultural emergency, develop new varieties promptly, and leverage the experiences of foreign countries to introduce disease-free varieties capable of coping with climate change effects.
“A few years ago, Pakistan earned $220 million from the export of 450,000 tonnes of Kinnow. However, this year, the export of high-quality Kinnow is expected to fall to 150,000 to 275,000 tonnes, yielding hardly $100 million. If new varieties are introduced and cultivated, the export of citrus fruits could be enhanced to $3 million, gradually reaching up to $1 billion within 10 years,” he suggests.
He pointed out that the current variety of Mandarin (Kinnow) imported by the USA was introduced in Pakistan 60 years ago and has lost its natural resistance against diseases over time. Climate change has further weakened the variety.
“Usually, any fruit variety reaches its maturity in 25 years, after which modern varieties to replace the old variety are introduced. New varieties have not yet been developed! Kinnow orchards are an abode of diseases, and the appearance of the Kinnow has deteriorated due to the spots on its skin, making it unsuitable for export. The shelf life of Kinnow has also shrunk to around 20 days instead of two months. The export consignments are falling prey to deterioration, causing huge financial losses to both growers-cum-exporters and importers,” he explains.
Despite numerous appeals to the Punjab government, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), and agricultural research institutions to address the issues, the Kinnow industry, which generates millions of US dollars and provides 400,000 jobs, is on the verge of collapse. Ahmed warns that if the problems are not addressed, the export of the fruit could come to a complete halt in the next two years. Almost 50% of the 200 Kinnow processing plants have been closed since the commencement of the Kinnow season.
Read Cultivation of seedless oranges advised
Former president of Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Shoaib Ahmed Basra, a leading exporter and progressive grower, explained the challenges posed by regional competitors such as China, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Iran, which have bumper citrus crops. He noted that Pakistan also has a bumper crop of 2.7 million tonnes this year, a significant increase from 1.5 million tonnes last year. However, the export trend indicates less than 50% exports this year. The fruit is being exported to UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman by shipping companies and to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan by roads.
He highlighted additional challenges, including high export taxes to Afghanistan, delayed import quotas from Indonesia, and logistical issues related to sea trade. He said an exporter has to pay Rs3 million in terms of tax on a single trailer carrying 35 tonnes over export to Afghanistan this year, and only 150 containers carrying 400 tonnes of Kinnow were exported to Indonesia so far in comparison with 800 containers carrying 20,000 tonnes last year.
He urged the government to engage in diplomatic talks with Indonesia’s government to release import quotas for Pakistani’s Kinnow, reduce export tax to Afghanistan, and, above all, strengthen logistics to send cargo by roads to Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the like. Cargo by sea takes two months to reach these countries, while cargo by road could arrive in a fortnight’s time. He also calls for conducting research and growing a seedless Kinnow variety, which is more popular worldwide.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2024.
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