The Senate is expected to take up the 2018 farm bill before the fourth of July. Included in the Ag Committee approval of the legislation is authorization for a foot and mouth disease vaccine bank.The House included funding for the FMD Vaccine Bank in its farm bill they passed Thursday. Minnesota Pork Producers Association President Greg Boerboom says while the authorization is important, Senators need to fund the vaccine bank in their farm bill and his group will push for that.
He says several species would be negatively affected by a foot and mouth disease outbreak that would likely devastate U.S. agriculture.
Boerboom says a large group of ag group representatives want the FMD Vaccine Bank not only approved but paid for and they’ll all work together to see Congress gets that completed.
Boerboom says without an FMD Vaccine Bank, should an outbreak of the disease occur, the U.S. pork industry would see its exports markets completely shutdown. He says that would devastate the industry as 25 percent of U.S. pork is now exported.
