Iowa’s Ag Secretary is asking lawmakers for a quarter of a million-dollar budget increase — to boost the “Animal Agriculture Industries Bureau” in the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

Mike Naig says Avian influenza, African swine fever and other foreign animal diseases are a threat to Iowa’s livestock and poultry industries.

His predecessor asked lawmakers for half a million dollars in 2016, shortly after a bird flu outbreak hit Iowa’s poultry industry. Legislators just provided 250-thousand dollars for the effort this year. Three weeks ago, Naig hired a veterinarian to serve as the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s emergency management coordinator. Naig is now asking legislators to provide the rest of the half-a-million-dollar budget for the bureau that’s overseeing state preparations for an outbreak of a foreign animal disease.

Naig says upgrading the department’s antiquated computer system is key to ensure alerts can be sent quickly to the right people if there is an outbreak. Naig says if legislators provide the additional money, his agency will host drills for producers in how best to respond if there is an outbreak of foot and mouth or some other disease that can devastate and kill livestock and poultry.