The economic cost of bird flu or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the united states between 2014 and 2022 is estimated to be over 5.7 billion dollars, most of which was spent on the control…

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded the Regents of the University of Minnesota a Cooperative Agreement worth $1,995,640 on February 2, 2026, under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025).

The project develops risk assessments and targeted biosecurity strategies to limit barn-to-barn transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on infected poultry premises. The university will produce two risk assessments—one for turkey operations and one for egg production facilities—designed to slow or prevent virus spread between barns on the same farm. By containing HPAI within individual barns rather than allowing farm-wide transmission, the work aims to reduce depopulation requirements and associated costs to state and federal agencies while protecting nearby farms. Deliverables include public-facing materials (fact sheets, videos, and webinars) on implementing barn-to-barn biosecurity and a train-the-trainer program to disseminate findings to veterinarians and disease control experts for biocontainment application.

Work is performed in Minnesota with a period of performance through February 1, 2029. The program supports efforts to protect U.S. agriculture from economically injurious plant and animal diseases and pests affecting regional or national agriculture.

The economic cost of bird flu or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the united states between 2014 and 2022 is estimated to be over 5.7 billion dollars, most of which was spent on the control of the outbreak in poultry populations. The preferred approach to HPAI infection in poultry is stamping out, which means all poultry on infected premises are depopulated in order to prevent the spread of the disease (1). While this method has worked well, concerns about the sustainability of the approach have been raised as the outbreak continues with no end in sight. The purpose of this study is to evaluate barn to barn transmission pathways and mitigate them with targeted biosecurity strategies to limit HPAI spread on a farm. To accomplish the goals of the project, two risk assessments of barn to barn spread one for turkey premises and one for EGG production premises will be developed. Limiting the spread of HPAI on an infected premises will reduce the amount of virus produced, thus protecting nearby farms. Furthermore, if barn to barn transmission can be slowed or stopped, then depopulation of all animals on a premises might not have to occur at the same time for virus transmission to be effectively stopped. If depopulation activities can be reduced in intensity by slightly prolonging the timeframe, state and federal government agencies could see benefits since they will not have to maintain large pools of expensive resources. Finally, this work could help poultry producers and regulators to break up large premises into smaller individual epidemiologic units which could lead to fewer uninfected birds that have to be depopulated. Materials will be shared with the public in the form of fact sheets, videos, and webinars on how to implement barn to barn biosecurity. Additionally, a train-the-trainer approach will be used to share the findings of this project with public and private veterinarians and disease control experts on how to use this for biocontainment on infected farms and how to strategically reduce the size of large farms.