Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Planning”
During the 2015 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the United States, over 50 million chickens died. This led to a 12 percent drop in the egg layer market, severely impacting revenue across the U.S. (Chappell, 2022). HPAI, which is often referred to as “bird flu,” struck again in February 2022 and 57 million birds (APHIS, 2023) have died …
About 20 percent of Vermont dairy farms raise pigs as well as dairy cows. Ninety percent of these farms raise pigs seasonally, and their health concerns may not be a priority for farmers. However, there is growing concern about the global spread of African swine fever (ASF), a deadly foreign animal disease (FAD) of pigs that was identified in two …
(Feature image courtesy of the National Pork Board, Des Moines, Iowa.) In an April 2023 article published in Progressive Dairy a question was asked, “what do speed tests have to do with biosecurity?” Julie Smith, veterinarian and research associate professor at the University of Vermont, considers what it means for a farm to go from “zero to 60” quickly in …
The United States is fortunate that foot and mouth disease (FMD)—a highly contagious, devastating viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals—has not occurred in the country since 1929. Secure Food Supply Plans, including the Secure Sheep and Wool Supply Plan, were developed to assist producers, transporters and food processors in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak in the U.S., namely …
When I talked about emergency preparedness with folks involved in agriculture in 2011, I was referencing the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion, the toxic sludge flood in Hungary, and the Fukushima nuclear plant accident in Japan as example of disasters that were unanticipated. In 2019, I would have referenced the crashes of the Boeing 737-Max, the collapse of the Brumadinho …
