By Stephen Smoot
“The poultry industry is doing well.”
And no one would have a better finger on the pulse of the poultry industry than the man who shared that, Ward Malcolm, president of the West Virginia Poultry Association. The WVPA represents much of the industry in West Virginia, particularly in its Potomac Highlands heartland.
A year ago, industry headlines rang out with warnings from the United States Department of Agriculture. A June 26, 2024 report from the USDA states that “the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is present in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in U.S. domestic birds and dairy cattle. Many other species are susceptible to this virus.”
Federal officials ramped up what the USDA called “the strongest influenza surveillance program in the world.”
The United States Centers for Disease Control, however, reported that while there had been “several recent human cases in U.S. dairy workers,” the “risk to the general public from these viruses remains relatively low.”
These warnings came on the heels of USDA reports that the total live weight of federally inspected poultry had dipped from 6.05 billion pounds to 5.92 billion pounds between May 2023 and 2024. The number of young chickens during that span had declined one percent while that of mature chickens was down seven percent to 69.8 million pounds.
Turkey inspections had also dropped by nine percent from the previous May.
By November, USDA reports showed that the poundage of mature chickens had dropped to 53 million, down 17 percent from 12 months prior.
In January, a report from CBS News outlined the carnage caused by the bird flu, both in direct deaths from disease and the culling of poultry to check the spread. More than 20 million birds were lost to both causes in the final quarter of 2024 alone.
The report shared that “taxpayers will pick up the tab for the lost birds. To incentivize farmers to quickly report and stamp out the virus, a USDA program pays producers for the eggs and poultry they cull.”
That program, however, does “not pay for birds that died from HPAI.”
Farmers were urged to “report sick birds immediately and begin the indemnity (payment) process quickly if you have an infected flock.” The USDA handled “depopulation work” and farmers could receive payments within two to three weeks. Farmers could also receive payment for destruction of contaminated materials and “virus elimination activities.”
Interestingly, farms participating in this also had to register with the Systems Awards Management system (SAM) as a federal contractor would.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture has historically operated one of the most comprehensive biosecurity programs for poultry in the nation. As Malcolm explained, “luckily, West Virginia has had no problems, except for a couple of backyard flocks.” A Kanawha County flock contracted it in 2024. It was also detected in a Pocahontas County flock in early 2025.
“Geese are probably an issue, Malcolm stated, adding that “they are migratory” and much more immune to the effects of the virus while carrying it. This is likely because long-term consistent exposure helped them to develop stronger immune responses to the virus.
He described some of the robust protections used by farmers and processers to protect birds. Footwear and clothing must receive special attention, as one can track contaminated waste matter into an area with healthy birds. Poultry farmers also, especially during outbreaks, manage access to their property to prevent accidental contamination, even from delivery drivers.
While several other states experienced significant problems, the large poultry industry in the Mountain State has avoided outbreaks seen elsewhere.
From late March to May 1, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture even shut down public exhibitions and events related to poultry. “This is a serious threat to West Virginia’s poultry industry which is the largest overall contributor to our state’s animal industry economy – this action provides added safeguard,” said West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt at the time. He added that “This nationwide outbreak has been ongoing since 2022, and we have worked closely with poultry industry stakeholders and our interagency partners to prepare for and respond when needed to a West Virginia outbreak.”
The decline in nationwide numbers through the end of 2024 even led to political attacks on President Donald Trump as the price of eggs soared in his first few weeks in office. “Experts” cited by publications such as the New York Post even predicted an all-time high of eggs at $5 a carton by the end of the year. Had eggs continued to rise, this would have had an inflationary effect on a large number of food products that use eggs in their production process.
Media “experts,” fortunately, are often wrong because they assume that the conditions affecting the issue will not change. Also fortunate, the normal biological process of reproduction kicked in to help solve the population problems.
Recent USDA reports show that populations have started to come back.
The preliminary total live weight of all federally inspected poultry during May 2025 was 5.85 billion pounds, up from 5.39 billion pounds in November 2024. Young chickens inspected totaled 5.29 billion pounds, up from 4.83 billion in November.
The poundage of mature chickens by last May had reached 59.8 million pounds, still down 17 percent from the previous year, but an increase of about seven million pounds over that of November 2024.
That does not mean that the poultry industry in West Virginia still does not face significant headwinds.
“In our area, sad to say, a lot of older folks are closing down their poultry farms,” shared Malcolm. He explained that “it’s because the young folks don’t want to do it. That’s why they are going to larger farms” such as the large scale complex recently constructed in Old Fields. Many of those in the younger generation have decided to leave the area, despite the good opportunities for employment and careers in various fields that do exist in the Potomac Highlands.
These complexes also simplify the economies of scale, which lead to relatively lower costs of doing business.
The loss of these family operations, however, means that generations of knowledge capital passed on from parents to children, knowledge that has accumulated over time, is increasingly lost to posterity.
That said the two major poultry counties in the region, Pendleton and Hardy, continue to produce young people whose knowledge of poultry helps them to earn state and national awards. The hard work of 4H and the Future Farmers of America continue to educate both girls and boys to the point where their knowledge could make them leaders in the field.
Keeping those great minds in agriculture is the key to poultry’s future.
As the area prepares for the family fun and festivity of the West Virginia Poultry Festival, the industry remains a powerful and prosperous foundation for the economy. Its traditions, however, face demographic and economic realities, however, that could pull it away from its deep traditions in the region.
