1. Build-out continues on state-of-the-art animal disease lab [NBAF]
By Thierry
Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
August 4, 2026
The Plum Island Animal Disease Center is being replaced by a brand-new facility in Kansas. The federal government continues relocating the animal disease laboratory from Plum Island, New York, to the new National Bio and Agro Defense Facility, or NBAF, in Manhattan, Kansas. Steve Witte, director of NBAF, says that all research activities have been gradually transferred from Plum Island, New York, to NBAF in Manhattan, Kansas.
Witte says that the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, will help take some of the workload until NBAF is fully operational and the entire mission has been transferred.
Full text: https://iowaagribusinessradionetwork.com/build-out-continues-on-state-of-the-art-animal-disease-lab/
2. USDA Reports Only 5 Active New World Screwworm Cases as Monitoring Efforts Continue [edited]
Federal and state officials emphasize that surveillance, sterile fly releases, and cooperation with Mexico are vital to stop New World screwworm in the U.S.
By Marion Kirkpatrick, news staff
RFDTV.com
August 6, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD NEWS) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says there are currently just five active cases of New World screwworm in the United States, as federal and state officials continue aggressive efforts to contain the pest and prevent further spread.
In a post on X, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said USDA has made significant progress since the response began.
According to Rollins, the department has dispersed more than 600 million sterile flies, conducted more than 1,000 drone flights to identify release locations, and observed and cleared more than 56,000 wildlife as part of surveillance efforts.
USDA data show the United States has recorded 45 total cases since the outbreak began, with only five cases currently active. The department also reports no confirmed infections in wild or feral animals, a key indicator that the pest has not become established in wildlife populations.
The state [Texas] is placing additional monitoring traps near cruise ship terminals in Corpus Christi and Galveston to detect any flies that could arrive from the Caribbean or Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, where infestations remain heaviest.
3. USDA abandons initiatives aimed at protecting broiler farmers
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reversing course on legal rules that would have affected the vast majority of US broiler farmers. These rules were to have taken effect this July 2026.
By Treena Hein
Food Agribusiness World
August 5. 2026
According to the USDA, many broiler farmers and some farming organizations, the 3 rules would have protected farmers under contract with large processors from unfair payment systems and forced extra expenditures. The 3 rules represented reforms to the 'Packers and Stockyards Act'.
2-year history
In 2024, Poultry World reported on the third rule, called 'Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems'.
The USDA noted at that time that there is a "range of abuses" inflicted on broiler farmers within what are known as 'tournament' (producer comparison) payment systems. In addition, the USDA confirmed that there are sometimes unfair requirements placed by the large processors on their contracted farmers to take on "extra capital expenditures" (e.g., changes to barns).
To address this, the third rule would have provided "critical tools to enable growers to better identify risks that may arise on capital improvement practices", stated the USDA in 2024, "and enhance the ability for USDA to enforce existing prohibitions on unfair…practices".
In October 2025, the National Chicken Council (NCC) and the North American Meat Institute (which represent the largest US meat processing companies) sued the USDA to overturn the second rule. They claimed it was unlawful, that it would harm companies by forcing expensive "compliance and record-keeping obligations" on them and also force them "to modify contracting practices merely to avoid the possibility of litigation".
After the USDA took another round of public comments, on 1 June 2026, the agency finalized the second rule but delayed its implementation from July 2026 to 31 December 2027. However, as mentioned, the USDA will now rescind all 3 rules through the federal rulemaking process.
4. Public health expert building dashboard to track costly bird flu outbreaks in Indiana
Indiana Univ.
August 5, 2026
Many research projects originate in a laboratory, but for Drew Capone, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, the idea for his current project came when he faced the sticker shock on a package of eggs in 2025.
An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu in late 2024 and early 2025 created a nationwide egg shortage that resulted in average prices of about $6 a dozen, up from an average of $3.
"I thought, this is ridiculous. Who at the state level do I need to talk to so I can better understand what is going on?" Capone said. "What are the gaps in the research, and how can I help? I have an environmental health microbiology lab; is there anything I could do to help provide data to the state and other stakeholders?"
Capone and IU Indianapolis associate professor of geography Daniel Johnson secured federal funding through the USDA's "Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge" for a three-year project to monitor avian flu in wild bird populations by tracing and mapping outbreaks through bird waste in Indiana streams, rivers and lakes. Capone's lab, including IU student researchers, launched the project in May 2026 with an analysis of water sample collection techniques.
After Capone's lab finds the ideal method for collecting river water samples, they will begin collecting data at scale for a public-facing dashboard. Poultry farmers will be able to use the dashboard as an early-warning system and ramp up their biosecurity measures to avoid an outbreak among their chickens.
Full text: https://news.iu.edu/live/news/51896-public-health-expert-building-dashboard-to-track
5. One Confirmed, 5 Suspected Pigeon Fever Cases in Oregon
EDCC Health Watch
TheHorse.com
August 6, 2026
According to the State Department of Agriculture, one horse in Deschutes County, Oregon, has tested positive for pigeon fever, and five horses are suspected to be positive. Another 44 horses have been exposed. The affected horses are under quarantine.
Full text: https://thehorse.com/1146394/1-confirmed-5-suspected-pigeon-fever-cases-in-oregon/
6. Advanced Imaging-Based Assessment of Proximal Sesamoid Bones in Thoroughbred Racehorses
Researchers are using CT scans and machine learning to identify bone changes that could help predict and prevent catastrophic injuries in racehorses.
TheHorse.com
August 5, 2026
The majority of career-ending health concerns in Thoroughbred racehorses are attributed to musculoskeletal injuries. Very importantly, of these injuries, a small subset can be life-threatening to both horses and jockeys if they occur during high speed exercise or racing. Although the industry has achieved a reduction in fatal injury rates in Thoroughbred racing over the past decade, understanding the causes and development of lower forelimb bone fractures that lead to these catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries (CMI) remains one of the highest safety and welfare priorities in horse racing.
The metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP), widely referred to as the fetlock joint, is the most common site of serious orthopedic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses. Specifically, significant clinical and research efforts have focused on the proximal sesamoid bones (PSBs), as they account for an estimated 45-50% of fatal injuries among U.S. Thoroughbred racehorses.
The Musculoskeletal Research Group at the University of Kentucky (UK), in collaboration with veterinary practitioners, racing regulators, racetracks and scientists at other universities, has ongoing studies in a number of areas that all aim to support and advance the orthopedic health of racehorses and, indeed, all equine athletes. One of these research projects is the PhD dissertation research focus of graduate student Grace Camp. Her project involves the collection and analysis of postmortem computed tomography (CT) forelimb scans from horses that have died on Kentucky racetracks or training facilities that either sustained a CMI or died for reasons unrelated to a CMI (sudden death, colic, etc.). Each scan is assessed for bone lesion pathology across a total of 105 forelimb anatomical sites, from the distal radius to the navicular bone. To date, 1,644 CT scans from 431 horses have been collected, resulting in more than 98,000 anatomical site assessments. This large-scale dataset enables the research team to utilize "big data" strategies and advanced machine learning or data mining techniques to identify and characterize bone lesions and fracture patterns from a large sample set perspective.