Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Column: An Ounce of Prevention

An Ounce of Prevention
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is a concept that is often lost in Congress, however, this week was the exception. Legislation unanimously passed the House that will work to protect our borders and our number one industry – agriculture.

On Monday, the House passed S. 2107, Protecting America’s Food and Agriculture Act of 2019, which authorizes additional U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agricultural specialists to help intercept contraband and quarantine items to prevent African Swine Fever, an animal disease affecting only pigs and with no human health or food safety risks, and other foreign agricultural diseases that could devastate U.S. agriculture.

CBP’s and USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are tasked with preventing foreign introduction of pests into the country. One common prevention method is canine inspections from highly trained beagles that look for any plant or meat material that could be a potential carrier of a disease. Known as the “beagle brigade,” these dogs can quickly sniff out any contraband that poses a threat.

To understand the importance of keeping our borders secure from outside disease, look no further than the devastation of African Swine Fever in China. According to Rabo Research, even conservative estimates of losses suggest that the fatal hog disease is impacting an estimated 150-200 million pigs, a loss larger than total U.S. pork production and equivalent to Europe’s annual pork supply.

This has resulted in a tremendous opportunity for the growing pork industry in South Dakota and throughout the country. U.S. pork exports posted new volume and value records in 2019, reaching nearly $7 billion, according to data released by USDA. Pork exports soared to 282,145 metric tons in December 2019, up 34% year-over-year and surpassing the previous high by 9%.

Growth in the pork industry has had a ripple effect across the state. As livestock move into a county, there is a noticeable basis bump for corn and beans. According to the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, hogs consume 23 million bushels of corn annually. That’s value-added demand right here in South Dakota.

U.S. agriculture has proven time and time again that we are the most efficient producers in the world. Producers across the state do their best to maintain a healthy herd and we must do what we can to keep emerging threats at bay. Today, African Swine Fever represents a huge opportunity to provide safe, affordable pork to consumers in China and around the globe, but also a threat to our domestic pork industry. We must do what we can to secure our points of entry for the sake of our producers and domestic food security.

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