In this week’s National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Friday recap: House passes bill authorizing ‘Beagle Brigade’; NPPC ‘deeply disappointed’ Congress didn’t pass new farm bill; pork industry champions to serve as Ag Committees’ new leaders; and NPPC seeks comment period extension on EPA air emission draft models. Take a deeper dive below.
What happened: Following unanimous Senate passage last month, the “Beagle Brigade Act” was approved on Wednesday by the House on a 381-20 vote. It authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Detector Dog Training Center, which trains beagles and other dogs to detect at U.S. ports of entry food, plants, and other host material that can carry foreign pests and diseases. The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.
NPPC strongly supported the “Beagle Brigade Act” to permanently authorize the training center, which has been operating under USDA’s general authority over animal and plant health, with funding through user fees.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses dogs at ports of entry to spot contraband fruits, vegetables, and meat products in international passenger baggage, mailed packages, and vehicles entering the United States. On a typical day, CBP seizes more than 4,600 plants, meat, and animal byproducts that must be quarantined and, in most cases, destroyed.
In addition to authorizing and funding the dog training center, the legislation also requires USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to report to Congress in one year on current and emerging threats to domestic agricultural and natural resources from foreign pests and diseases; improvements needed in federal programs to minimize disease threats, including better coordination among APHIS, CBP, and other federal agencies; and recommendations for strengthening the capabilities of the training center in protecting against foreign pests and diseases.
NPPC’s take: NPPC strongly supports the “Beagle Brigade Act,” which funds and provides congressional authorization for the Newnan, Georgia, dog training center. “American agriculture relies on the Beagle Brigade to prevent the introduction of foreign animal and plant diseases that would cripple our food supply,” said Lori Stevermer, NPPC president and pork producer from Easton, Minnesota. “For the pork industry, it’s the first line of defense for keeping threats from foreign animal diseases, such as African swine fever, out of the United States.”
Why it matters: Foreign diseases and pests carried into the United States cost the country $138 billion annually in economic and environmental losses, according to USDA. NPPC is particularly concerned about African swine fever reaching the U.S. mainland. In July 2021, the pig-only disease was detected on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, just 750 miles from U.S. shores.
Article and audio provided by National Pork Producers Council.
