Wild Bird Study & Drug Use In Animals

Wild Bird Study & Drug Use In Animals. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

A workshop on stewardship of medically-important antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals is planned for tomorrow, at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. Sheldon Jones, Vice President Programs, Farm Foundation.

JONES: We're trying to connect the dots between the government regulators and the affected industry and stakeholders in this process to try to make everyone aware and have people start planning to establish those relationships with their vet today, establishing relationships with their feed supplier and make sure December of 16, January of 17 that they're ordering stocker cattle or their dairy calves are delivered that if it involves administering antibiotics through feed or water that they have those relationships established.

Washington State University will help organic growers protect human health by assessing the risks and benefits of wild birds on organic farms. Researchers received nearly $2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Organic Research and Extension Initiative to conduct the study. Producers have food safety concerns about E. coli and salmonella. Bill Snyder, the WSU professor of entomology leading the study says "We're trying to figure out where these pathogens are really coming from and how to manage them." The goal of the research is to inform the development of food safety guidelines, known as good agricultural practices or GAPs, using evidence-based information.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.