Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recently held a meeting with turkey and egg producers to get their advice on how to better response to avian influenza. Grassley says one of the main areas of improvement producers cited was better communication.

Grassley says other concerns were the need for some type of insurance as well as improvements in how euthanasia or disposal of dead birds was handled.

He says producers say that contractors hired by USDA to clean up the poultry facilities infected by bird flu also caused damage and then left the state leaving farmers holding the bag.

Grassley says it should be up to the federal government to put pressure on the contractors to pay the farmers for any damage incurred as a result of their work.