After more than four years on the front lines of the nation’s largest animal health emergency, Indiana’s poultry industry has reached a monumental turning point. As of August 13, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) has officially declared the state free of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
The designation, granted under international standards set by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), comes after the state successfully cleared a mandatory 28-day waiting period with zero new detections following the elimination of the virus from all affected premises. All local control areas and surveillance zones have been formally lifted, and most impacted farms have been given the green light to restock.
For a state that anchors the nation’s poultry production—ranking number one in ducks, third in eggs, third in turkeys, and maintaining a massive broiler presence—the clearance is a vital breath of fresh air.
Easing Trade Barriers
The WOAH-compliant HPAI-free status carries immediate economic weight, effectively easing restrictive export barriers and international trade bottlenecks that have hampered movement for Hoosier poultry and poultry products.
Becky Joniskan, President of the Indiana State Poultry Association (ISPA), expressed profound gratitude on behalf of the state’s producers.
“ISPA and the Indiana poultry farmers and companies it represents cannot express enough our appreciation for the efforts of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health and the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory for their HPAI response efforts since February 2022, and most especially, since October 2025 when HPAI began in Elkhart, LaGrange, and Noble Counties,” Joniskan stated. “Your commitment to the protection of our flocks, business continuity for unaffected farms, and near 24/7 response efforts have been essential to returning the state to HPAI-free status as quickest as possible.”
A Hard-Fought Battle
The road to recovery has tested the resilience of Indiana agriculture. Since the devastating 2022-2025 incident kicked off in early February 2022 with a Dubois County turkey flock, Indiana has logged 200 flocks testing positive across 26 counties.
The state bore a heavy burden, recording 72 of those positive detections in 2026 alone—ranging from a commercial turkey outbreak in Sullivan County in February to commercial egg-layer operations in northern Indiana this past May.
The Risk is Not Over: A Warning to Growers
Despite the celebratory milestone, state officials are issuing a blunt warning to producers across the board: HPAI-free status is NOT an “all clear.”
“Owners of all flocks, large and small, need to remain vigilant in biosecurity and in preventing the introduction of the virus,” BOAH officials emphasized in the announcement.
The virus remains stubbornly active across parts of the United States. Nationally, HPAI has struck 2,236 poultry premises across all 50 states and Puerto Rico since 2022. Furthermore, migratory wild birds—including waterfowl, raptors, and shorebirds traversing Indiana flyways—continue to carry the virus, posing a persistent environmental threat. Growers are strongly urged to maintain strict biosecurity protocols and completely minimize wild bird exposure to domestic flocks.
While Indiana has notably avoided any HPAI infections in domestic livestock, the national scope underscores that the broader agricultural sector remains under siege, with 1,173 livestock premises (predominantly dairy cattle) affected across 20 states since 2024.
Looking Ahead
As Indiana farms look toward restocking and rebuilding, the message from agricultural leaders is clear: celebrate the milestone, but keep the boots scrubbed and the biosecurity tight.
To review ongoing updates, historical data, and state dashboard tracking, producers can visit the official BOAH HPAI Dashboard.
