Thompson: Farm Bill wins boost biosecurity as livestock industries confront avian influenza and other threats

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, told a joint Senate and House Agriculture & Rural Affairs hearing at Ag Progress Days that federal funding in the recently enacted portion of the Farm Bill provides “critical” resources for livestock biosecurity, repopulation of flocks and research.

Thompson said the USDAcommitted $1,000,000,000 this year to help producers "maintain and improve their biosecurity protocols, accelerate repopulation, conduct research on effective vaccines and therapeutics, and reduce costs for consumers." He called the funding a central tool for responding to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak and other animal health threats.

Why it matters: Producers at the hearing repeatedly emphasized losses and heightened costs from HPAI; Thompsonsaid the Farm Bill language and USDA resources aim to reduce the economic and production shocks that accompany such outbreaks.

Thompson also highlighted investments and policy provisions in the Farm Bill that he said will benefit livestock producers, including increased conservation funding (EQIP, CSP, RCPP), expanded crop insurance options and an increase in the federal estate tax exemption that he said will help keep family farms intact. He described a new supplemental disaster assistance mechanism added to crop insurance to make disaster payments timelier and more reliable.

On specific disease risks, Thompson raised the re-emergence risk of screwworms and supported efforts to expand sterile fly production domestically. "We now have a sterile fly processing facility" in Texas used for distribution, he said, "and I remain supportive of a full fledged domestic sterile fly production facility and hope that such an investment will be pursued as soon as possible." The congressman also cited global concerns such as African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease as ongoing threats to U.S. livestock markets.

Thompson addressed state-level production mandates such as California's Proposition 12, saying he supports a change clarifying that a state may require production standards only for livestock produced within its borders. "This provision...clarifies that states cannot impose as a condition for sale or consumption a production standard on livestock unless that livestock is located within the state's borders," he said, adding that the change enjoys broad industry support.

The congressman closed by encouraging continued collaboration between federal and state agencies, producers and industry groups as negotiations continue on remaining Farm Bill provisions.

Ending: Thompson said more work remains for a subsequent Farm Bill package but described the enacted measures as "the biggest investment in history" for some program lines and urged vigilance on disease surveillance and domestic production capacity for critical disease-control inputs.