The US pork producers urge Congress to support agricultural research
Speaking to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology, NPPC chief veterinarian Dr. Liz Wagstrom said that due to the United States's historical commitment to research, the country is the "lowest-cost and most technologically innovative producer of food in the world … and has the safest food on the planet".
The US pork industry found ways to tackle with diseases such as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome and the H1N1 influenza virus thanks to the research conducted in the country.
"A disease the pork industry and other livestock sectors are particularly concerned about, Wagstrom testified, is Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD). The United States doesn’t have enough vaccine to address an FMD outbreak, which, if unchecked, would cost the pork, beef, corn and soybean sectors, alone, $200 billion over 10 years," the NPPC statement read.
NPPC is urging Congress to establish and fund through the next Farm Bill a manufacturer-managed FMD vaccine bank and is requesting funds for animal disease diagnostics and research that “can help address the alarming gap in the government’s preparedness for an FMD outbreak.”
Dr. Wagstrom also told the subcommittee that the federal commitment to agricultural research seems to have waned recently, pointing out that from 1970 to 2008 50 percent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget went to research but by 2013 it was less than 30 percent.
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