Animal & Plant Committee Plans Active Agenda

News Date February 13, 2006

The Animal & Plant Industries Committee, chaired by West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass will focus on several issues of mutual concern between APHIS and the states. Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jeremy Stump will discuss the USDA lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane season, Dr. Ron DeHaven, APHIS administrator, and several members of his staff will discuss agricultural responsibilities related to avian influenza, especially focusing on some activities of which the states will be APHIS partners. An APHIS fruit fly strategic plan will be discussed with the committee membership as well. The farm bill will also be a topic of considerable concern. While other NASDA committees have responsibility for many of the farm bill priority issues, the Animal & Plant Industries Committee has a few priority concerns it will discuss, e.g., agricultural safeguarding issues and the difficult issue of streamlining a pest program to deal with all the dimensions of early detection/rapid response and the emergency funding for eradication of these pests that are unintended but growing consequences of increasing global trade.

The Biotechnology Task Force, chaired by Kansas Agriculture Secretary Adrain Polansky will hear from Drew Kershen, Earl Sneed Centennial Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma, on legal liability issues that affect agricultural biotechnology. This presentation is considered an essential primer in preparation for the NASDA-Pew Peaceful Coexistence dialog coming up in March 2006. The dialog sessions continue for task force members; the first session dealt with methods for federal and state partners to properly share confidential business information -- a topic that will take some additional discussion to find possible, workable solutions. The second session focuses on possible ways to achieve peaceful coexistence in the marketplace between farmers producing organic, conventional and biotechnology crops. Keith Pitts, Director of Public Policy for the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology will be on hand to answer any questions members have regarding the dialog. There will also be a discussion of pertinent issues between Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS), the National Plant Board, and NASDA. Cindy Smith, deputy administrator, BRS, and Ken Rauscher, president, National Plant Board will contribute to those discussions. (Contact: Rick Kirchhoff)