Photo: Yahuzaishat / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Iowa is the top egg-producing state, with tens of millions of laying hens, many of them in large barns in northwest and north-central Iowa. Wright County has some of the largest.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has hit Iowa flocks repeatedly since 2015, when outbreaks killed more than 30 million birds in the state. Wright County lost flocks then, and again in later outbreaks.
When a flock tests positive, all the birds are destroyed to stop the spread. That pushed egg prices up sharply in grocery stores in 2022 and again in early 2025.
USDA pays indemnity to farmers for lost birds. Producers have spent heavily on biosecurity, from showers for workers to new barn ventilation.
Curt Hanneman writes for Clarion News Online.