Jim Sumner, USAPEEC

This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Sumner, president and CEO of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. After record losses to U.S. poultry in 2015 from highly pathogenic avian influenza, the disease is wreaking havoc again around the globe. Sumner says the biggest losses have come in laying hens. Some 150 detections have been reported in commercial flocks in 29 states, but wild bird detections have been three times larger than the previous round of the disease. Sumner says the supply of turkeys for Thanksgiving could be challenged if the disease continues to spread. Finally, Sumner reflects on his career and discusses the challenges of labor and shipping in the poultry industry as well as frustration with the remaining trade embargo with Cuba.