Latin America Poultry at a Glance: Page 7

These last few days, bird flu has been spreading all over Latin America – Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. At the same time, Brazil and Argentina are being surrounded. Brazil, in particular, has strengthened protocols to avoid the disease entering their strong poultry industry.

The clock is ticking and there are barely 13 months for the Presidential Decree in Mexico banning the use of glyphosate and genetically modified (GM) corn to come into effect.

It has been several years since I attended the National Poultry Congress in Colombia. I could not attend for several reasons. Additionally, as all other meetings and conferences, it was delayed a couple of times.

When talking about Latin America, the avian influenza (AI) virus has become almost ubiquitous: Mexico, Colombia and now Peru. Brazil is in warning mode. The fierce virus seems unstoppable, and the poultry industry needs to continue to work on biosecurity and maybe push to make vaccination part of a regular routine.

A few days ago, my fellow journalist Roy Graber at WATT Global Media blogged about politics and animal ag. He said how egg prices do not mix well with politics, in reference to Ron Estes, a Republican representative from Kansas blaming the Biden administration for high egg prices, overlooking the fact that the layer population in the U.S. has been severely impacted by avian flu, as well as high commodity prices.

Last week I attended the North American Renderers Association’s (NARA) 89th Annual Convention in California. Among the world of information provided, sustainability was probably the most important issue – from my personal point of view.

In about 15 months, genetically modified (GM) corn use in Mexico will be banned, as per a presidential decree. This measure, quite unpopular within the industry – mainly feed manufacturing and starch – is full of misinformation and unscientifically proven facts and is paired with uncertainties on how this will be applied.

This Friday October 14 is World Egg Day, so I had a conversation with Dr. Javier Prida, Coordinator of the Latin American Egg Institute (ILH) to see what their plans are. The ILH will have a webinar with the participation of the 20 Latin American poultry associations through platforms and social networks.