NPPC offers insight on APHIS strategic plan framework
Suggests animal welfare best left to producers, veterinarians, using science-based standards of the National Pork Board’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program.
July 26, 2022
The National Pork Producers Council submitted comments on USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's strategic plan framework, the agency's roadmap for improving programs and services. Among other recommendations, NPPC suggested APHIS:
Change the government's grade levels for veterinarians to be more competitive with the private sector and help recent veterinary graduates with student loan debt.
Include the animal agriculture industry in developing an early warning system to detect emerging and zoonotic diseases.
Begin the regulatory process of increasing user fees to cover a shortfall in Customs and Border Protection staff needed to conduct inspections for agricultural contraband.
Increase staff within its Veterinary Services to meet the growing need for negotiating new market access and maintaining existing markets and within its International Services to address sanitary and phytosanitary issues.
Request additional resources for its Wildlife Services program to meet the growing threat of wildlife diseases.
Recognize that farm animal welfare is best left to producers and their veterinarians, using the science-based standards of the National Pork Board's Pork Quality Assurance Plus program.
NPPC commended APHIS for "its foresight in framing future programs and activities around those trends that will drive American agriculture's long-term productivity."
Source: National Pork Producers Council, which is solely responsible for the information provided, and wholly owns the information. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.
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