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Raising ducks and chickens in the fresh air is a rooted way of life in the Landes region of southwestern France, where foie gras is the highest expression of both culinary excellence and regional identity. The Laffitte family has been in the poultry trade for the better part of a century, and neither chicken farmer Michel, 50, nor his duck-raising nephew Stéphane, 32, is about to accept that the avian-flu virus could augur the end of a tradition. But like poultry farmers everywhere in France, the Laffittes feel as if they are fighting two battles these days. And both their opponents are unpredictable.
One fight, of course, is against the highly pathogenic h5n1 strain of avian flu, which reached France last month. So far, the only infection of commercial birds has been in the Dombes wetlands of the Ain region near Lyon, around 600 km to the east of the Landes. Several dozen wild birds have died of the infection in Ain. Could the Landes be the virus' next target? With its high concentration of domestic birds, and its lakes along the Atlantic coast favored by migratory waterfowl soon due to return from Africa, the Landais are on high alert.
Still, when it comes to the virus, there are things local farmers can do: keep a vigilant eye on their flocks and wild birds, dip their boots in disinfectant, even vaccinate their ducks, an option that remains unauthorized almost everywhere else in France. It's dealing with scared consumers that is tricky. Chicken sales in France were down by 20% at the end of February, says André Lepeule, delegate general of the Federation of Poultry Industries, and some retailers say sales have dipped by twice that.
No matter how often politicians publicly eat coq au vin or suprême de volaille, the French are treating chicken as if it glowed in the dark. "I froze two chickens a few weeks before the disease came to France, but once they are done that's it," says Janet Sitbon at a supermarket in Paris' Marais district. "My husband thinks I am nuts, since now all I am left with is steak."
"Where it's really hurting is the high end, particularly whole birds," says Eric Cachan, head of the marketing group Label Rouge, whose birds are raised free-range. "People are strangely more willing to buy nuggets and prepackaged chicken parts." Europe's largest poultry producer, Brittany-based Doux, last week announced reduced hours for about 700 of its 4,500 employees in France due to plunging sales. "There's just been too much noise about all this," grumbles Lepeule. "People are mixing up eating cooked chicken, which is entirely safe, with a highly hypothetical risk of human infection."
But the bad news continues. By the end of last week, total or partial import bans on French poultry products had been issued by 43 non-E.U. countries, including Japan, the biggest non-European importer of French foie gras. "There's no health justification for these bans, and the government's working to get them lifted or at least limited to certain regions and products," says Vincent Truelle, co-director of an association of foie gras producers. "Their effect isn't catastrophic in commercial terms for us, but it's irritating to have our image undermined like this."
The same fears attend the vaccination program for ducks and geese, which has been authorized in parts of the Landes and two other coastal departments to the north. Even though farm-raised ducks are commonly vaccinated against other diseases, farmers fear that vaccinating against bird flu will just further alienate consumers. "Anybody who has the space to confine their ducks is doing that instead of vaccinating," says Frédéric André, head of health and animal protection for the Vendée. Chickens aren't yet being vaccinated, but Michel Laffitte says he'll do whatever the authorities ask of him. He has moved the feeding apparatuses for his flocks — he has 16,000 Naked Neck chickens — inside, but warns that keeping them cooped up won't work. "These birds are genetically suited to being outdoors," he says. "Put them inside and they'll peck each other to death."
Laffitte sees consumer anxiety as evidence of how distant the French have become from life on the farm. "People don't like to be reminded that what they're eating was once a living thing, and that getting it to their table is a complicated exercise," he says. Laffitte hopes that migratory birds will stay away from his hens, and that consumers' fears will soon quiet down. With stories of new outbreaks of h5n1 cropping up from Niger to Serbia, he may have a long wait.
- JAMES GRAFF / Arboucave