JT Albright is a family farmer from the state of Maryland, United States of America. In his Lived Experience, he discusses the dangers of avian flu, why it matters in the scope of Planetary Health, and what it means for poultry and egg production across the globe.
Story arranged and filmed by the Next Generation Youth Council.
Transcripts
View this video on YouTube for the full transcript and translations.
View on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1RpFnSmZm4
English
Today we are talking about Planetary Health. We are in Baltimore County, Maryland. One of the things I’d like to touch on today is the avian influenza and how it is affecting us.
My farm, we farm turkeys, we also do egg layers. Avian influenza has really changed the dynamic of how we have to look at things. We have to be very careful now when the Canadian geese are flying. It is a disease that will wipe out all foul within 24 hours. This is a thing that has affected everywhere in North America and South America. Avian influenza has been around for a very long time. It didn’t become a problem until it mutated and got into the Canadian geese population and when it got into the Canadian geese population, they were close enough to be a carrier for the disease and they didn’t die, but then when they would fly over the migratory routes that they do and then when they would actually expel waste, that waste will fall or get into areas and then if it gets into a house and it’ll affect guys like these. Enough, a tip of a ballpoint pen is enough to wipe out basically three of these houses.
So, the question was is how does avian influenza affect Planetary Health? So, one of the things you need to realize is that when we are under the effects of avian influenza in the state of Maryland, that there are certain restrictions that get put onto the poultry industries. One of those restrictions being the fact that during the last restriction, companies like Purdue, Tyson, Mount Air, they could not ship certain products out of country due to these restrictions, so it’s important that when we are in these restrictions that we have to follow like mandates so that more flocks don’t get sick and especially, you know, it affects you guys. It affects those everybody out there, you know, everything from a chicken breast to an egg to vaccines. It affects our food system in that when a flock gets wiped out, it’ll get killed in 24 hours. To replace that flock takes basically two years, especially when it’s an egg layer. It takes 18 months to the point where a hen is up to the point where it can lay an egg and then from there you have two years of lifespan that it’ll go, but it’s and before you get the egg is two months after we get it, so it’s, it’ll affect the cost because all a sudden the demand that you have is here it’s pretty constant. It’s always going up at a certain gradient but then all of a sudden the supply goes down and that will hugely affect everything from making medicines to, you know, making a Belgian waffle to even just making more chickens to produce for more eggs.
Another thing that you guys would be interested in hearing about is Maryland is very known for its Chesapeake Bay. We are experiencing some, especially in the lower shore on the Eastern Shore, intrusion in saltwater, intrusion into farms, into Farmland. Especially farms that are lower in altitude or sea level. So I hope this this finds you well, and thanks.