Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act of 2025

This bill would pay poultry farmers who are blocked from raising birds because their farms fall inside a USDA disease “control area.” These areas can include both infected zones and nearby buffer zones, so some farms may be healthy but still told to stop growing or laying flocks for a time. In those cases, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) must compensate the farm owner for the flocks they could not produce due to the location of the facility in a control area .

Payments would be based on the farm’s average income from its last five flocks, multiplied by the number of flocks the farm was not allowed to grow or lay, minus any money the farm already got from a state or other source. USDA must pay within 60 days after the owner asks. The agency’s decision on the amount is final. Farmers cannot get this payment if they already received compensation for destroyed birds at the same facility during the same time.

Key points

• Who is affected: Owners of poultry growing or egg-laying facilities inside APHIS-designated control areas, including farms in buffer zones. “Poultry” includes chickens, turkeys, ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, waterfowl, and game birds; it does not include doves or pigeons .
• What changes: APHIS must compensate for flocks a farm could not produce because of control area rules; payment uses a set income formula; no double payment if you already got paid for destroyed animals; USDA’s decision is final.
• When: USDA must pay within 60 days after a farmer files a request for compensation.