From the State Vet’s Office

CHALLENGES TO ANIMAL AGRICULTURE IN 2022

SHRINKING LAND AVAILABLE, SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES AND ANIMAL DISEASE TOP THE LIST

BY DR. TONY FRAZIER

When I was a kid in school, on rainy days when we couldn’t go outside, we sometimes played a game called musical chairs. Most of you are familiar with the game, although I don’t know if it is played by today’s first graders. Here is a quick refresher on how the game is played. There is a circle of chairs that number one less than the number of participants. The music begins and the participants walk in a circle around the outside chairs. When the music stops everyone takes a seat except for the one person who is the odd person out. That person leaves the game and one chair is removed so that there is one less chair than participants. As the game goes on and participants are eliminated and chairs removed, eventually there

is only one chair left and two participants. When the music stops that final time, I can remember some serious competition to fight for that final seat and win the game. The challenges I see in animal agriculture and agriculture in general remind me of a game of musical chairs. With each serious challenge, the music stops and, for one reason or another, people leave the field of agriculture.

As I write this article, the morning news was filled with reminders that we can no longer take for granted where our food comes from. The single newscast mentioned severe, extreme droughts in the western United States, baby formula shortages, bird flu continuing to spread across the United States, a three thousand head dairy herd in New Mexico being euthanized due to water contamination and finally, diesel fuel reaching record-high prices. There is also a long list of issues that didn’t make that particular newscast that are significant challenges to being able to feed a growing population. I remember about 10 years ago, we were talking about how we would feed the world as the population grows to a predicted 9 billion people by 2050. That was before many of the challenges we face today were even on the radar screen.

A 2019 Washington Post article that had researched the subject found there had been a 30-year decline in every single metric they had looked at: the number of people involved in agriculture, the net farm income adjusted to inflation, and the amount of land used for agriculture. Various websites seem to agree that we are losing about 2000 acres of agricultural land in the United States to development daily. That doesn’t seem inconsistent with what I see driving around the state. Places that were large row crop farms or pastures the last time I drove through a particular area of the state are now housing developments or factories. I guess that is progress. But to quote that great American, Paul Harvey, “Everything we call progress … ain’t.”

But in the middle of all these changing and uncertain times, I see reasons to be optimistic. Avian Influenza, especially the highly pathogenic strain, has for years been a major concern for the poultry industry. In 2015 (actually beginning in December 2014), the high path avian influenza outbreak cost USDA $850 million for the immediate response. There was an additional $100 million made available for further preparedness activities. The total economic loss was well over $1 billion. It was the most expensive animal health incident recorded in U. S. history.

The current avian influenza outbreak we are experiencing in the U. S. is more widespread and apparently more contagious. However, at this point it has only resulted in the loss of 23 million birds. That compares to over 50 million birds lost in the 2014-2015 outbreak. There are probably several factors involved in the lower number of birds lost so far in this outbreak. The virus has more of an affinity to wild birds. However, as I have watched this event unfold, I believe that we have just done a better job of responding to this outbreak. If you have read many of my articles about dealing with disease outbreaks, you may recall that I always say rapid recognition, response and recovery are the difference between a costly event and a disaster. Using lessons learned from the previous outbreak, USDA, along with state departments of agriculture, realized that a delay in decision-making and responding only added fuel to the spread of the disease. Without going into a great deal of detail, flocks that were determined to be positive were humanely euthanized and the use of whole house composting dramatically reduced the chance of the spread of the virus. I also believe that industry was also more prepared to deal with this outbreak. The loss of 23 million birds is certainly subThe current avian influenza outbreak in the U.S. has resulted in the loss of stantial. But it is far less than it could have been. This year, I am serving 23 million birds. as president of the National Assembly of State Veterinarians. And while we have not been directly impacted here in Alabama by the current outbreak of avian influenza, at least not so far, I have asked that a group representing State Animal Health Officials work on lessons learned during this outbreak to be even more efficient during the next outbreak of influenza or whatever disease happens to come over the horizon. The ability to work with USDA and other states throughout our region has helped us to be better prepared to respond to avian influenza as well as other diseases and natural disasters. I believe we must be more efficient in all areas of animal agriculture as we go forward. We have made great progress over the past decades in being able to produce more food on less land while using less resources. We must continue to refine our ability to produce in the face of drought, high fuel prices, shrinking land available for agriculture, supply chain issues and animal disease. To me, failure to move in that direction is not an option. We must continue to improve our ability to deal with the challenges we know are out there as well as those that could be … like frogs and locusts. And of course, don’t give up the last chair!