2008 Mid-Year Meeting Report - Animal & Plant Industries Committee

 

Animal & Plant Industries Committee

Chairman Greg Ibach, Nebraska

Vice Chairman Lester Spell, Mississippi

2008 Mid-Year Conference

Washington, D.C.

 

Committee Report

 

Summary of Committee Action:

 

Greg Ibach, Director, Nebraska Department of Agriculture, and Chair, Animal & Plant Industries Committee, called the meeting to order. NASDA Members from 37 States were present.

 

Collaborative Assessment Project Report:  Commissioner Gene Hugoson (MN) provided a recap of the actions taken between NASDA, several affiliate groups, and APHIS to address issues regarding ways to improve collaboration. He addressed the results of an extensive survey and the draft recommendations made by the Assessment Working Group to NASDA and APHIS. Cindy Smith, Administrator of APHIS, discussed her support for and involvement in the project. She introduced a cadre of Deputy Administrators that also attended the meeting: Rebecca Bech, Plant Protection & Quarantine (PPQ); John Clifford, Veterinary Services (VS); Bill Clay, Wildlife Services (WS); Chester Gipson, Animal Care (AC); Mike Gregoire, Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS); and Bethany Jones, Legislative and Public Affairs (LPA). She also introduced the members of the Program & Policy Development staff that had spearheaded the survey and document development: Ken Waters, Anne Dunigan and Anna Rinick. All involved indicated that the results of this effort are a beginning of a series of steps and actions that need to be implemented in order to keep the good things we have going and improve those areas where we determined that collaboration efforts need assistance. She also introduced Hallie Zimmers, Interim State Liaison for APHIS; a contact point within her staff for state issues.

 

 APHIS Issues:  Cindy Smith and the Deputy Administrators answered questions posed by the members.

 

Animal Identification: Tyler Brown, Global Animal Management, spoke about information technology available to assist in meeting COOL requirements, traceability, information verification and animal identification and the potential value-added nature of using these techniques.

 

National Veterinary Stockpile:  Dr. Lee Myers, APHIS-VS-NVS, spoke on the creation of the National Veterinary Stockpile in HSPD 9 and the requirements that States also develop a stockpile plan. USDA has progressed in the development of the NVS and now is available to assist in coordinating plan development in States. Dr. Myers is the State Federal Liaison for the program.

 

FDA Feed & Related Issues: Dr. Bernadette Dunham, recently appointed Director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA, spoke about feed issues in the administration’s food safety initiatives. She also touched on the Animal Feed Safety System project. She also identified the need for improved communications with the States as an important lesson learned during the melamine incidents this past year.

 

National Plant Board Report:  Gray Haun, President, NPB, spoke about some of the priority efforts of the NPB. Since the genesis of the NASDA-APHIS Collaborative Assessment Project was a plant-related issue, he spoke about several communications and compliance committee actions underway.

 

Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection: Tom Winkowski, Assistant Commissioner, CBP, discussed the establishment of the Partnership Council with members from NASDA, NPB and the National Assembly of State Animal Health Officials. He also pledged to work more closely with the states to improve the agricultural inspections at ports of entry and the availability of his program staff leaders to NASDA Members’ agencies.

 

Policy Review: Director Ibach discussed the plans that he has to review the Animal and Plant Health policies over the summer with the goal of presenting revised policy for membership review at the annual meeting in September. He also asked for volunteers to assist NASDA staff in this endeavor.

 

Consideration of Policy Amendments and Action Items: The committee recommended approval of Action Item A, offered by Greg Ibach (NE), Gene Hugoson (MN) and Bill Northey (IA) regarding a resolution moving the Collaborative Assessment Project Report forward and identifying some priority actions for NASDA to work with APHIS to assure development and implementation.

 

Six Month Workplan: Priorities for NASDA Staff include follow up on the Collaborative Assessment Project recommendations, completion of the Emergency Contacts Project, working on Incident Command Training, reviewing and revising the Animal and Plant Health policies and drafting a proposed Feed Safety policy. The Committee plans to have someone speak to the issues surrounding the implementation of COOL during the Annual Meeting in Bismarck in September.

 

 

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