Michigan's largest egg farm lays off 400 workers amid bird flu outbreak | 14 May 2024 | Michigan's largest egg producer is laying off 40% of its staff as the company and state agriculture officials grapple with the spread of avian flu. Herbruck's Poultry Ranch told the state on Wednesday that it launched a mass layoff affecting 400 workers across five of its facilities in Ionia County. The layoffs deepen the impact in Michigan of the spread of avian influenza, two weeks after the state declared an "extraordinary animal health emergency." For the first time in Michigan, a commercial egg producer is culling flocks to halt the likelihood of spreading the disease, which in nearly all cases is fatal for affected birds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus has also hit commercial turkey farms in three counties. [The WEF's goal: cripple the supply chain and destroy the U.S. from within.]