India's Emu Ranching Bubble Bursts, With a Grim Aftermath

In India’s countryside, where poor farmers must cope with droughts, floods, and other disasters, there’s a new scourge: the collapse of emu ranching. Native to Australia, the emu is a large, flightless bird that somewhat resembles its African cousin, the ostrich, and tastes (fans say) like beef. Farmers in Australia, the U.S., and other countries raise emus for their meat, eggs, and oil (rendered from their fat). About five years ago, Indian farmers started seeing these Australian fowl as their ticket to riches.

The fad quickly spread across the country, as farmers “just did whatever the neighbors said,” says Vinay Sharma, a former banker in New Jersey with Merrill Lynch who now raises emus in Gujarat. Overcapacity—the bird population peaked at about 2 million in 2012—has led some to abandon their emus in the wild. “People are feeling this business is not doing well,” he says.