New York's Long Island was once synonymous with "duck" in the culinary world. Now it may lose its last commercial farm. The avian flu outbreak that has led to the slaughter of millions of birds and driven up the price of eggs struck the Crescent Duck Farm this week, leading federal officials to order the destruction of the operation's entire flock. Doug Corwin, whose family has owned the roughly 140-acre farm since the 1640s, said Friday that a multiday cull of about 100,000 birds has been completed at the now-quarantined barns in Aquebogue. His remaining staff will thoroughly sanitize the facility, reports the AP, a process that could take months. "We're just stunned right now," Corwin, 66, said Friday. "It's a very, very sad time. We're trying our best to work our way through this, one step at a time."
He said the family will have to reckon with the future of the fourth-generation business, which was established in 1908 and is tucked among the vineyards and agricultural lands of Long Island's North Fork. Corwin said he was forced to lay off 47 of the farm's 75 workers, including many who had worked there for decades. "If duck farming isn't an option, I'm not sure what we'd do," he said. "We're not really set up for anything else." Crescent Duck Farm supplies nearly 4% of all ducks sold in the country, Corwin said. The key to its longevity has been the quality of its ducks, which he said have a thick, meaty breast and just enough skin fat to keep them tender and moist during cooking. "The only way we've survived on Long Island is by making a duck that is different from our competition," Corwin says.
The farm was allowed to hold onto several thousand duck eggs, which he hopes will help rebuild its flock and preserve the distinctive genetics honed over generations. But Corwin said he is reluctant to restart without federal approval for vaccinating poultry—something larger industrial farms oppose because of its impact on international sales. Without vaccination, he said, smaller operations will continue to be at risk of total ruin. Even now, Corwin said he is not sure how the virus entered the tightly controlled facility. "We had identified weaknesses and tightened everything up," Corwin laments. "It wasn't enough, I guess."
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