The Truth About Bird Flu, mRNA Vaccines, and The Fragile Food System

I've been asked this question about the bird flu and mRNA vaccines making headlines lately. It's time to be honest about what's really happening and why it matters more than you might think.

First off, let me be clear—we have no plans to use mRNA vaccines on our farm. Our focus is on helping animals build the healthiest immune systems possible by giving them a good life out on pasture. We believe in building immunity through fresh air, sunshine, and space so they can live as animals are intended to live.

Here’s the thing that is concerning: this bird flu crisis isn’t just about sick birds—it’s exposing the terrifying fragility of our entire food system. The numbers are staggering. In December alone, 13.2 million laying hens died or were culled. In just the first six weeks of 2025, another 23.5 million were gone. Over the last three years, more than 159 million poultry have been wiped out by this virus.

Our pasture-raised chickens are regeneratively farmed, ensuring ethical treatment for the animals and sustainable agricultural practices. Good for the land and good for us.

Picture this—just four companies control around 60% of America’s meat-chicken market, and five companies own 50% of the laying hens in America. That’s not just bad for farmers—it’s a disaster for food security. When those massive operations pack 10,000+ birds into warehouse-like conditions (or 4 million birds in a single facility in Iowa!), they’re creating the perfect breeding ground for disease. It’s like trying to prevent a cold in a kindergarten class where all the students are forced to share one tissue!

Since 2022, over 82 million birds have been culled because of H5N1 outbreaks. Remember those egg shortages? Egg prices just hit an all-time record of $4.95 per dozen—with restaurants paying up to $7! And don’t expect prices to drop anytime soon—experts say even if the virus disappeared tomorrow, prices would stay high for at least 12-18 months. That’s what happens when we put all our eggs in just a few corporate baskets.

The industrial food system’s answer? More tech, more chemicals, more vaccines—just slapping Band-Aids on a fundamentally broken system.

This bird flu situation isn’t just a hiccup in the system. The industrial food system is quite literally designing its own demise, and they want us all to go down with it.

Our answer? Simple—let’s build something different.

Here’s what a resilient, decentralized food system looks like:

• Thousands of small farms instead of a few giant ones (studies show that larger farms increase the risk of massive outbreaks).
• Birds raised in small flocks on fresh pasture (studies demonstrate that they develop healthier, stronger immune systems, better equipped to fight off pathogens).
• Local and regional processing instead of national supply chains that can collapse with one disruption (remember the meat shortages during COVID when just a few processing plants closed?).

While industrial agriculture falters, diversified small farms stand strong, weaving resilience into every acre of land. Industrialized, highly concentrated supply chains are being devastated by disease outbreaks, while small pasture-based operations remain remarkably resilient. We saw this during COVID-19 when massive meatpacking plants shut down and meat production dropped 40% nationwide. Local farms like ours kept feeding our communities. That’s not a coincidence—that’s resilience built into the system.

I won’t sugarcoat it—our approach isn’t the cheapest or easiest route. But those seemingly “cheap” supermarket prices? They come at a hidden cost—to consumer health, farmer livelihoods, animal welfare, and our national food security.

So every time you choose pastured meat from farms like ours, you’re investing in a food system that bends but doesn’t break when challenges come. You’re supporting farms that don’t need experimental measures because we’re not creating the conditions for disaster in the first place.