Joint Agriculture Effort Supports APHIS Plan for Animal Disease Prevention and Management
November 13, 2019
NMPF participated Oct. 1 in a joint press conference with the National Pork Producers Council, the National Corn Growers Association and Iowa State University to urge the USDA to quickly spend mandatory funding included in the 2018 Farm Bill to buy enough vaccine to effectively contain and eradicate an FMD outbreak.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency announced in August initial plans to carry out new animal health activities using resources provided by the 2018 Farm Bill. Section 12101 of the law established a three-part program to comprehensively support animal disease prevention and management. The bill included funding to create two new programs: The National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (vaccine bank) and the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP). It also expanded funding opportunities for the existing National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN).
These 2018 FARM Bill programs were initially identified in 2014 as priorities for Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) preparedness by the NMPF Animal Health and Wellbeing Committee. NMPF worked with a coalition of other stakeholders to obtain new funding in the 2018 FARM Bill for FMD preparedness.
“The time to build a best-in-class FMD Vaccine Bank is now,” said Jamie Jonker, Ph.D., vice president for Sustainability & Scientific Affairs at NMPF, at the news conference. “NMPF has been active in informing our members and the dairy community of the importance of preparation, and a vaccine bank is a crucial element of protection for the entire livestock industry.”
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