Pasco animal traceability meeting
Washington Ag Today August 23, 2010 Tomorrow, August 24th is when USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will hold a public meeting in Pasco on a new plan for animal disease traceability. Under a new direction states and tribal nations must establish the ability to trace back to their state of origin, animals moving interstate. During a recent congressional hearing House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson asked. Peterson: “Why does USDA believe that this new traceability framework approach will be better received or any more successful that past efforts?” USDA Undersecretary Ed Avalos answered that because the new system is based on state and tribal partnership. Avalos: “This is no longer a top down request. This is a request where we reach out. And we are going to develop standards that the whole country has to meet, but we are going to allow the states and the tribes to meet those standards in a way that works best for them.” Avalos says the new approach goes back to basics from a technological standpoint too. Avalos: “We are using simple identification that we have used for years in disease programs at USDA. These are programs that will give us better buy-in from industry.” Tomorrow’s meeting is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pasco Red Lion Hotel. Registration begins one hour prior to the start. The Washington State Department of Agriculture reports it issued 16-hundred-fifty dollars in fines and imposed license suspensions during the second quarter of 2010 for violations of state pesticide laws and rules. The violations included exposing a farm operator to pesticide drift and damaging and organic alfalfa field. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ? ?
