Press Releases

Washington, DC – Yesterday, Congressman Alford (MO-04) and Congresswoman Blunt Rochester (DE-At-Large) led seven of their colleagues in the introduction of bipartisan legislation to create indemnity payments for poultry growers who have been impacted by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) control zones. 

Right now, poultry growers and layers are losing millions of dollars when neighboring operations have outbreaks of Avian Influenza. This legislation will change that.

This legislation is supported by the following groups:

• American Farm Bureau Federation;
• National Chicken Council; 
• National Turkey Federation; and
• Missouri Farm Bureau Federation.

Congressman Alford issued the following statement:

“Under current law, when poultry operations test positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) compensates growers for lost income. This diagnosis should never impact producers that could be miles away. Our legislation changes exactly that. We are creating an indemnity payment for poultry growers and layer operations, who were impacted by USDA control zones put in place even though their birds were never impacted. I’m proud to join my colleagues in this much needed bipartisan legislation.”

Congresswoman Blunt Rochester added:

“When our agriculture community is forced to confront outbreaks of avian influenza, we should make sure that incentives are aligned to help control the spread of the disease while also fairly compensating farmers to make sure they’re not on the hook for unexpected costs. That’s why I’m proud to be working across the aisle with Congressman Alford and across Congress with Senators Coons & Wicker to introduce a commonsense bill that protects our family farmers and poultry growers while incentivizing best practices to control the spread of avian flu.”

Media inquiries for Rep. Alford should be directed to Austin Higginbotham at 770-519-7894.