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FMD vaccine bank & competitiveness top pork’s farm bill list

The top priorities for the National Pork Producers Council in the next farm bill are increased competitiveness and a national Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine bank.

David Herring, a North Carolina hog producer and vice president of NPPC, says they stand against the interim GIPSA rules set to go into effect in a month and have issues with the pending organic livestock and poultry practice rules, “Like all pork producers, in the next farm bill, I’d like to see provisions that help strengthen my industry’s competitiveness. I would hope it doesn’t contain provisions that would restrict my ability to raise and sell animals or to compete in the global marketplace.

Herring told the House Ag subcommittee on livestock that there needs to be enough FMD vaccine to quickly control and eradicate the disease and funding to make it happen, “If this country ever had an FMD outbreak, it not only could devastate my farm and the whole livestock industry but the entire U.S. economy.”

Herring says they want an international vendor that can produce a minimum of 40 million doses, “We want the Farm Bill to direct USDA to contract for an offshore vendor-maintained vaccine bank that would have antigen concentrate to protect against the 23 most common FMD strains currently circulating in the world.”

Herring says mandatory increased funding is needed for the National Animal Health Laboratory network to monitor and detect disease.