Category Archives: News Worthy Mentionables
Traceability Framework
For 2 days at the end of August, almost 200 state veterinarians and livestock industry representatives met in Denver to share suggestions for and concerns about the USDA’s traceability framework, announced in February of this year. The National Institute for … Continue reading
Butterwick Farms
Today I visited Butterwick Farm, owned by John and Lisa Roberts, in West Cornwall, Vt, with Cheryl Dorschner, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Senior Communications Professional. It turns out that the biosecurity project I am leading has been selected … Continue reading
What Does Exercising Have to do with Ag Emergency Preparedness?
Find out by watching Across the Fence just after the noon news Tuesday July 13 on WCAX, Channel 3. Tim Bouton, Senior Planner with the Addison County Regional Planning Commission, and I discuss why we need to practice and how … Continue reading
Albert
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. – Albert Einstein The UVM Extension reporting system, recently renamed the Logic Model Planning and Reporting System (lumpers?), is affectionately known as Albert—a reference to … Continue reading
Lessons Learned
Twenty years of safe deep water drilling did not excuse the oil industry for not being prepared for its recent disaster; 80 years without an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease does not let US livestock industries off the hook from having … Continue reading
Learning from Another’s Mistake
Photo by Louis Bedor III “That’s what a company is supposed to do is plan for a worst-case scenario,” Fearn-Banks said in an interview with Anne C. Mulkern of Greenwire for the New York Times, June 10, 2010. Kathleen Fearn-Banks … Continue reading
VPR Interview
On May 26 Vermont Edition broadcast an interview with me about the biosecurity projects I have been leading in Vermont with the support of farmers, agricultural industry personnel, and other community leaders. Jane Lindholm did a nice job capturing the … Continue reading
Japan Battles FMD
Japan has intensified its campaign to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) by extending the zone in which livestock will be depopulated to 10 km (6.2 mi) from affected farms. Countries that hope to regain international markets as quickly as possible must … Continue reading
Report on 2010 FMD Outbreaks
CattleNetwork picked up this AP article on the 2010 outbreaks in Japan and South Korea. Interestingly, the AP reports that “Since then, infections have spread to more than 110 facilities in Miyazaki, according to the prefectural government. Some 85,000 cows … Continue reading
Bad Acronym!
May 14, 2010 Some acronyms are downright ugly. GLEWS is shorthand for the Global Early Warning and Response System for Major Animal Diseases, Including Zoonoses. GLEWS supports information sharing on disease alerts being tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization … Continue reading
