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As the struggle to stop the spread of Exotic Newcastle disease continues, the extent of the economic impact remains uncertain. One factor that will deepen the losses is the trade ban that has been placed against California poultry imports by other states and foreign countries, although the effect of the bans on San Diego County farms seems minimal.
The bans, which are taking many forms ---- against all of California, against the quarantine zone, against all poultry products, against certain poultry items, or against all birds ---- has cost the state's $3 billion egg and poultry meat industry between $10 million and $15 million since October, according to the California Poultry Federation.
He said the effect is smaller than it could be since the industry only exports about 2 percent of its products.
Exotic Newcastle was found in a backyard flock in Compton in October and quickly spread to commercial and backyard chicken flocks in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. One premise in Ventura County is said to have been found infected but later released. A federal quarantine includes those counties in addition to Santa Barbara and Imperial counties, which, according to the task force, act as a "buffer zone" around infected counties.
So far, more than 3.1 million chickens have been killed because of the disease, which task force officials say spreads so quickly through the feces or mucus of infected birds that if a bird is found to have the disease, all birds at the site must be killed. In San Diego County, six commercial farms have been affected, and nearly 450,000 chickens have been killed.
The first farm to be hit with the disease in San Diego County was Ramona Egg Farm, which was found to be infected in December. Four more, all in Valley Center, were found in February. They are the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade and Lilac roads; Foster Enterprises, also known as Gross Ranch, on Cole Grade Road; and the Fluegge Egg Ranch, on Twain Way. A sixth, and the latest to be identified by the task force, is the Ward Egg Ranch on Fruitvale Road.
San Diego County veterinarian Al Guajardo said the effect of the export ban is "almost nonexistent" because so few local farmers send their products out of the local market, although he said the county does not keep numbers on local poultry exports.
Eric Larson of the San Diego County Farm Bureau said his organization does not track local exports either, saying, "The eggs produced locally stay in the local market."
He said laying hens that have stopped producing eggs may be sold on the meat market, although he said he did not know for sure.
According to the 2001 county crop report, chicken meat was worth $949,000, while eggs were a $48 million business.
California Poultry Federation President Bill Mattos said that although San Diego farmers are not drastically affected, other farmers both in and out of the quarantine area are.
He said that to make up for lost export markets, many farmers, such as Foster Farms, which is based in Livingston, are looking for new markets within California. A spokeswoman for a public relations firm representing Foster Farms said company officials would not comment beyond a press release, which called the impact of the export ban "minimal."
Mattos said another business that is being hit hard by the ban is Nicholas Turkeys Breeding Farm in Sonoma. A spokeswoman there referred all questions about the ban to Mattos, who said he could not say exactly how much money the company was losing because of the ban.
"A big part of what Nicholas Turkey breeders does is ship their turkey eggs and poults, or baby turkeys, to their parent company in England," he said. "They can't do that now."
Twenty-four countries have bans against bird-related exports. Some are against poultry and eggs, while others are against all bird products. Most of those countries have bans only against products from one or all states with infected sites ---- California, Arizona and Nevada ---- while others have longer lists of states.
Within the United States, Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Massachusetts are listed as not accepting any bird exports from California, while Georgia, Oregon, Utah and Washington have opted for what Mattos called a "regional program," and have banned exports only from the quarantined area.
Hawaii has taken a unique position on California exports. The state has banned the import of all bird products from 10 Southern California counties, including the eight counties included in the federal quarantine and San Luis Obispo and Kern counties, unless the products are certified by the state as disease-free, state veterinarian James Foppoli said. The two additional counties were added as a "buffer zone," Foppoli said.
The state does not accept poultry products from anywhere in California unless it has been deemed free of Exotic Newcastle, he said.
"We don't have any confidence that people can't move birds out of those quarantined areas," he said. "We want to reduce our risk as much as possible."
Foppoli said that the state used to import a portion of its eggs from a producer in the quarantine zone, although he said he did not know which one or how many because the industry is not monitored for that type of thing. He said that some eggs ---- fewer than 100,000 of the state's annual import of 100 million ---- still come from the quarantine zone.
When asked how long the ban will last, Foppoli said, "As long as Exotic Newcastle disease is present in California."
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.
Source: http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030323/61147.html