SW Georgia News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Representatives Andrew Clyde and Sanford Bishop, along with Senators Joni Ernst and Chris Coons, have sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to advocate for a revised definition of poultry by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).

The lawmakers highlighted the discrepancies between the current WOAH definition of poultry and the proposed definition by the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA), stating that the existing definition fails to differentiate commercial poultry from backyard or wild birds, leading to unwarranted trade disruptions costing American poultry producers millions in lost exports.

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper expressed full support for the bipartisan effort to update the definition of poultry, emphasizing the negative impact of the current broad definition on the state's poultry industry.

President of the Georgia Farm Bureau, Tom McCall, praised the letter as a positive step forward in excluding private backyard flocks and game birds from the definition of poultry to prevent disruptions in poultry exports.

Mike Giles, President of the Georgia Poultry Federation, thanked Representatives Clyde and Bishop for spearheading the effort to revise the poultry definition, ensuring that detections of avian influenza in non-commercial settings do not affect commercial poultry exports.

Heath Jarrett, President of CMS Mechanical Solutions, Inc., echoed support for the proposed definition change to prevent disruptions in commercial poultry exports due to detections in non-commercial flocks or hunting preserves.

The National Turkey Federation also expressed support for a revised definition of poultry to safeguard commercial turkey exports from interruptions in the event of avian influenza detections in non-commercial flocks or hunting preserves.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers and supporting organizations are advocating for the adoption of the USAHA’s proposed definition change to protect America’s agricultural competitiveness and ensure fair global animal health rules for poultry producers.