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The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Services said that 3.4 million chickens and turkeys and 5,500 pigs had been killed by Florence. This is double the amount that was killed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the numbers should continue to climb.
This could have a pull effect on the portfolio at least in the short term. Poultry is North Carolina's largest agricultural industry, contributing over $ 36 billion to the state economy and employing approximately 127,000 people. The state is the third largest poultry producer in the country and the second largest producer of pork.
That many poultry deaths can lead to higher wholesale prices. Sanderson Farms, for example, claims that 1.7 million broilers died as a result of the floods, nearly 10% of its brood. And more than 6 million people are isolated by flood waters and can not be fed. (Lost Farms says she has avoided any substantial loss of the storm.)
While hog mortality rates are lower, farmers are more concerned about the effect of flooding on pork lagoons, where hog waste is treated and broken down to create fertilizer. Some of them are already overflowing and many farmers are not able to assess the state of their lagoons at the present time.
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