Abstract
Experts agree that it's merely a matter of time before another devastating health threat sweeps the globe. As documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, wwwn.cdc.gov/norsdashboard/), the world has already witnessed a dramatic increase in outbreaks from agricultural pathogens.
US national security depends on a strong economy, global trade, and food security. The threat to our agricultural base is imminent and tangible. As just one example of the vulnerability of our agricultural sector, consider the impact of the 2014-15 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak. The largest poultry disease outbreak in US history, HPAI is estimated to have resulted in a 12% loss in the number of table-egg-laying hens in the United States. The result was billions of dollars in recovery and restoration costs, including lost jobs and economic hardship for farmers, industry, producers, their families, and their communities. Other examples include foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, where just 1 case would close the US beef export market for months and cost billions.
The White House recently issued a national biodefense strategy and created a new interagency authority intended to bring consolidation and more cooperation to a long-standing and increasing threat from infectious disease outbreaks.1,2 The protection of our agricultural base is a big part of the White House plan.
One year ago, a bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense released a seminal report focused on disease threats and made recommendations to increase regional stockpiling of response countermeasures that included rapid diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. 3 The Blue Ribbon Panel report also included a recommendation to build better interagency networks for situational awareness, surveillance, and laboratory response and further their cooperation to deliver solutions for this increasingly costly and threatening problem. These efforts are laudable and deserve our heightened attention.
Land-grant universities have played a significant historical role in creating a resilient and agile defense to protect our agricultural base. Created more than 150 years ago by President Lincoln with the Morrill Act of 1862, land-grant universities were established for teaching and implementing innovations in agriculture and training farmers, ranchers, and producers to recognize and manage pests and disease. It is noteworthy that Abraham Lincoln established land-grant universities during his own biosecurity crisis, with infectious disease leading the casualty rate in the Civil War, with thousands of deaths resulting from diseases such as smallpox, dysentery, and pneumonia.
Our land-grant universities today have deep roots in ecosystem management and understanding of disease transmission in a One Health framework across the environment, plant, animal, and human community interactions.
Following the 2001 anthrax and other post-9/11 attacks, significant investments in biodefense were made by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in our infrastructure and capacity to study infectious diseases and translate solutions into the community. New construction is under way on our campuses for biocontainment facilities and a new federal facility for large animal disease testing. We continue to invest in innovations such as gene-editing approaches for creating vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic products, and their safety and utility in thwarting disease outbreaks. Perhaps most effective is the formative role we play in platforms such as Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN), an emergency response extension program that links our innovation engines to response teams in the field during and after a crisis. Our land-grant universities have established programs and networks to educate and train the next generation of researchers and producers who will be at the front lines of biosecurity and biodefense.
We endorse the actions taken by the administration to elevate this issue and bring new focus to efforts intended to provide resilient and agile solutions in agricultural biodefense. We support the measures in the Farm Bill and other legislative actions directed at enhancing our agricultural biodefense readiness. Critical investments in fundamental and applied research and development will lead to vital vaccine stockpiles, enhanced diagnostics and surveillance technologies, and improved engagement with the agricultural sector through emergency response measures to thwart losses from infectious disease.
By embracing our heritage of innovation transfer to farmers, ranchers, producers, and our communities, we can further the efforts that have made the agricultural base of the United States the envy of the world. The United States must address this critical vulnerability and secure the nation's food supply. We stand ready to innovate for enhanced agricultural biosecurity, preserving the life of our farms and ranches that provide for us every day. We depend on this national and global community to feed the world that our children will inherit.