Reporter: Glenda Laymen
…About 90 B.C. poultry farms have received funding from the B.C. government to install new technology to protect their flocks from the virus, including air filters and ultraviolet light systems.
Burgsma installed heat exchangers with MERV 16 filtration, a type of filter often used in hospitals, during the first round of program funding in 2025. More farms followed suit during a second round earlier this year.
Early results from the program are positive. Feedback from the first round of funding found more than 80 per cent of farmers would recommend the technology, with some crediting it with preventing infections during the previous migratory bird season, according to the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture.
“B.C. poultry farmers are telling us this new technology is making a real difference by helping protect their flocks and giving them greater confidence during avian influenza outbreaks,” B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said in a statement.