Legislation Would Encourage More Veterinarians to Practice in Rural Areas

A newly introduced bill backed by the American Farm Bureau Federation would help bring more veterinarians to rural areas.

 

“Timely veterinary care is key to maintaining the health of our nation’s poultry flocks and dairy and livestock herds. However, a shortage of animal care professionals in many rural areas is putting farm animals at risk, jeopardizing the farms and ranches that care for them, and impacting the stability of our food supply,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a letter to the sponsors of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act (H.R. 2447), Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis,), Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.).

Video: Episode 115: Home on the Range

We look at how high crop prices, driven in part by rising global food demand, biofuel incentives, and risk perspective and management, are encouraging the conversion of marginal grasslands into cultivated cropland. As more hay and pastureland is turned over to crop production, wildlife habitat becomes increasingly fragmented, leaving isolated “islands” of grass that may be too small to sustain functioning grassland ecosystems. We explore research using Alberta as a case study to understand the impact that conversion of hay and pasturelands into cropland could have on ecosystem intactness and biodiversity.