U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committee leadership this week requested emergency assistance for poultry and egg producers who have suffered losses due to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 infections.

Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Ranking Members Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking for help.

“This virus is proving incredibly infectious, affecting nearly 100 farms in over a dozen states and requiring the depopulation of approximately eight million birds in agriculture production across the country,” they wrote. “Despite extreme precautions taken by farmers to protect the health of their flocks and the best scientific minds in the country working to halt the spread of HPAI, this virus continues to infect farms across the country and requires significant resources to curtail its effects.”

The lawmakers are asking that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “be approved to utilize his emergency Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) transfer authority to help mitigate the spread of HPAI and limit the economic damages it causes to poultry farmers whose flocks become infected with the disease.”

USDA recently released CCC funds for indemnity payments to farmers with infected flocks, for management of depopulated flocks and for necessary sanitation efforts at infected farms. However, USDA is expected to request additional CCC funds be issued in the coming weeks to combat the virus as it continues to spread.