Agriculture Groups Urge USDA To Quickly Establish Foot-And-Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank

 

 

Representatives of the National Pork Producers Council, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Corn Growers Association and Iowa State University today called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to move as quickly as possible to establish a Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine bank.

 

At a press conference today, these groups recognized the steps USDA has taken to establish the bank, but called for expedient use of mandatory funding included in the 2018 Farm Bill to purchase the volume of vaccines required to effectively contain and eradicate an FMD outbreak. Currently, the USDA, which has prescribed vaccination for dealing with an FMD outbreak, does not have access to enough vaccine to avoid devastating economic consequences to the U.S. economy, should an outbreak occur.

 

FMD is an infectious viral disease that affects cloven-hooved animals, including cattle, pigs and sheep; it is not a food safety or human health threat. The disease is endemic in many parts of the world and would have widespread, long-term fallout for livestock and crop agriculture, including the immediate loss of export markets. According to Iowa State University research, an outbreak would result in $128 billion in losses for the beef and pork sectors, $44 billion and $25 billion, respectively, to the corn and soybean farmers, and job losses of more than 1.5 million across U.S. agriculture over 10 years.

 

“If the U.S. had a large outbreak of FMD, it may be impossible to control without the rapid availability of adequate supplies of vaccine,” said Dr. James Roth, a professor in the department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventative Medicine at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, during today’s press conference.  “The U.S. vaccine bank is our best insurance policy to respond to an FMD outbreak in the United States. As with most insurance policies, we hope to never use it, but it’s paramount that we have fast access to enough vaccine if we ever need it. The funding provided in the 2018 Farm Bill provides a good start toward building up a more robust FMD vaccine stockpile to help protect American agriculture,” he added.

 

“U.S. pork producers and other farmers are currently faced with a wide range of challenges, including export market uncertainties, flooding and other weather events,” said NPPC Chief Veterinarian Liz Wagstrom. “Unlike challenges beyond our control, a solution for FMD preparedness is in our grasp. We urge USDA to move as quickly as possible to establish the bank.”

Video: What Really Drives Meat Quality in Pork? - Dr. Yan Huang

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Yan Huang from University of Arkansas explores how genetics, nutrition, and stress management shape pork quality. He explains how molecular pathways influence fat deposition, muscle growth, and meat flavor while balancing production efficiency. Listen now on all major platforms!

"The most important driver of pork quality. Feed plays a very important role in the meat quality."

Meet the guest: Dr. Yan Huang / yan-huang-77829421 is an Associate Professor in Nutritional Skeletal Muscle Biology at the University of Arkansas. With academic experience across China, South Korea, and the United States, his work focuses on the genetic and molecular regulation of muscle growth and fat deposition in swine. His research connects genetics, nutrition, and pork quality to improve production efficiency and consumer satisfaction.