— Wes Ward, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, responding to state Sen. Bryan King’s request that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declare an emergency that would allow the state to provide financial compensation for growers and other businesses affected by the Cooks Venture shutdown and the euthanization of more than 1 million chickens.

Eureka Springs Times-Echo Carroll County poultry growers who recently had their flocks euthanized after the sudden shutdown of Decatur- based Cooks Venture may be left holding the bag after state officials denied a request by state Sen. Bryan King of Green Forest to declare an emergency.

King issued a formal letter to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday, Dec. 8, urging her to declare a state of emergency that would allow the state to provide financial compensation for growers and other businesses affected by the Cooks shutdown and the euthanizations.

“We need to provide full compensation to the growers, feed suppliers, and any entity related to helping this situation,” King wrote in his letter to the governor. “The company is under financial duress, and at this time, the state needs to assume responsibility. It is my hope the state can recoup the cost at a later date.”

Wes Ward, secretary of the state Department of Agriculture, responded to King’s request the same day.

“Because the proper role of government does not include state assumption of private debts, your request has been respectfully declined,” Ward wrote in his response to King, a copy of which was provided by Amy Lyman, director of marketing and communications for the state agriculture department.

“Poultry farmers and poultry production are integral to our State’s success. Northern Arkansas chicken growers have long provided an affordable source of nutrition not only to their fellow Arkansans, but also to the nation and the world. This is precisely why staff from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and I proactively worked over Thanksgiving to provide necessary assistance.

“However, your request that the government ‘provide full compensation’ to ‘any entity related [to the closing of Cooks Venture, Inc.]’ goes beyond the scope of appropriate state action. The State of Arkansas cannot ‘assume responsibility” for a company simply because that company has encountered ‘financial distress.’

“Our farmers are the greatest in the world. And we can compete with anyone so long as markets remain free and fair. Unfortunately, because granting your request would be contrary to those values, your request must be declined.”

On Tuesday, Dec. 12, Sanders’ communications director, Alexa Henning, shared a published report about the denial of King’s request on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“The Dept. of Ag and the Secretary worked over Thanksgiving within the appropriate scope of government to assist these farmers,” Henning wrote. “ ‘Conservatives’ shouldn’t ask for government bailouts of private businesses on the backs of Arkansas taxpayers.”

King reposted Henning’s comments twice on his own X page, first writing “(L)et me clear this up. What I was asking for wasn’t a bailout for farmers. It was the state to assume responsibility for the cleanup, that wasn’t the farmers’ fault, and hold the responsible company accountable. Much like the stump dump fire.”

King’s post referred to an appropriation of $20 million approved by the state Legislature in 2019 to help with costs for cleanup after a massive underground fire at a former dump site in the Bella Vista area.

Later, King reposted Henning’s comments a second time, this time writing: “Please come up here and I will show you what a cleanup is and what a bailout is. Also would be great if you could visit with farmers, non conservatives, that were calling me about … what the State and company has done to them. Just asking you to hear both side(s).”

At a meeting Thursday, Dec. 7, in Green Forest, Patrick Fisk, director of the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission, said that he made the decision to euthanize the birds after receiving calls from growers who were unable to feed them or were forced to ration feed.

Fisk said the state “decided to step in from a humanitarian standpoint.”

Some growers at the Green Forest meeting said they had enough feed for their chickens, but they were euthanized anyway. Fisk said Cooks Venture had agreed to assume responsibility for disposal of the birds that had been euthanized.

“What I’m hearing now is some of that’s not being done,” he said.

Richard Butterbaugh, a longtime Carroll County grower, said in a telephone interview before the Dec. 7 meeting that some of his chickens were removed rather than being euthanized.

“They took our birds, really, really small,” Butterbaugh said. “We don’t know where they went, nor what happened to them.”

Butterbaugh said the “normal catching crew from Cooks and the normal trucking company,” showed up to take his birds.

“I asked the trucking company where they were going with my birds and I got no reply,” Butterbaugh said. “The only answer I got was: ‘When I get to the blacktop, I’m supposed to call.’ ” Butterbaugh said a neighbor sent him a video recording of some birds being euthanized by “foaming.”

“I watched it for about five seconds, and then I said ‘I can’t handle this,’ ” Butterbaugh said.

Butterbaugh said many of the local growers for Cooks made significant investments for equipment and retrofitting houses to meet the company’s requirements. He said growers had no inkling that the company was facing financial jeopardy.

“As a matter of fact, on two occasions I had representatives of Cooks in my living room, telling me how things were going, how prosperous they were, how much they were growing, how many stockholders had come on. Everything was good, fine and dandy, keep on truckin’. As a matter of fact, they were still signing contracts for growers the Friday before they shut down.”

Lyman emailed a statement in response to questions for Fisk that were sent via email at Lyman’s request. The statement referred to “depopulation” as a means to control avian influenza, which the statement said has been discovered among four flocks in Arkansas.

“Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a viral disease that can infect poultry and wild birds, is often fatal to chickens and can spread rapidly from flock to flock,” the unsigned statement sent by Lyman says. “There are no treatments or vaccines available to control avian influenza. The only available control is depopulation of all affected and exposed flocks. In the last 30 days, avian influenza has affected 106 flocks in 23 states, requiring depopulation of more than 12 million birds. Arkansas has had four affected flocks that required the depopulation of more than 223,000 birds.

“The ongoing situation with Cooks Venture raised not only animal welfare concerns but also animal disease concerns in light of the ongoing avian influenza outbreaks across the United States. In fact, nine poultry farms associated with Cooks Venture are in the current avian influenza control zone. As a result, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Livestock and Poultry Division was requested by Cooks Venture to euthanize chickens owned by the company and being raised by contract growers in northern Arkansas.

“As of December 11, 2023, the Department has euthanized approximately 1.1 million birds through a water-based foam process in 56 houses on 17 farms.

“Prior to euthanizing the birds, the Department attempted to assist Cooks Venture in finding other options, including for feeding and processing. Further, the Department received oral confirmation from Cooks Venture that the company would be responsible for disposal costs in accordance with the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission rules. In a letter dated December 7, 2023 (attached), Cooks Venture stated that birds would be removed from the farms at the company’s cost.

“The Department’s Livestock and Poultry Division is overseeing the disposal of the birds to ensure compliance with Arkansas law.

“For birds on farms located within the Avian Influenza Control Zone, the Livestock and Poultry Division is also overseeing testing of the birds prior to transport for disposal in compliance with state and federal law.

“Compensation for the loss of the birds and associated income is a legal matter between Cooks Venture and its contract growers. Please see the attached letter regarding the State of Arkansas’s assumption of private debts.

“Additional questions should be directed to Cooks Venture.”

Attached to Lyman’s email were copies of Ward’s Dec. 8 letter denying King’s request for an emergency declaration and a Dec. 7 letter from Cooks to Carroll County grower Dustin Maybee.

“Cooks Venture will be removing all birds from your property at our cost following the State applied foaming process that is scheduled to take place on Monday, December 11, 2023,” says the letter to Maybee, which is signed by Cooks Venture chief operating officer Tim Singleton. “I realize this date has been pushed backed [sic] from our previous discussions, but I was just informed the State has run out of foaming supplies and need to restock prior to continuing. My apologies for the inconvenience this may cause.

“Please rest assure [sic] that the removal of the birds, the transportation of the bird and the disposal method of the birds will be done under a State of Arkansas approved permit, as the State has approved our plan of euthanasia, transportation, and dispoal.

“Due to the farm being located within an AI impacted zone, we will be testing your flocks over the weekend, in accordance with the State of Arkansas requirements for livestock movements. Following the acceptable test results, we will be removing the birds as discussed. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.”

King said he should have been notified by agriculture officials that the euthanizations were being planned.

“They were contacted the day before Thanksgiving,” he said. “They never called me. They should have called the senator. We all know that. They were going to take the company line right off the bat. That’s what they’ve done.”

A telephone call to the number listed for Cooks Venture got a steady busy signal. An email request for comment was not answered.

••• Information for this report was contributed by Dan Marsh of the Madison County Record.