Gund Fellows co-developed timely, innovative research to reduce the risk of animal diseases like coronaviruses spreading among farms. This policy brief helped to inform decision makers at the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program, and private sector stakeholders

Merrill, Scott

Posner, Stephen

Smith, Julie

English

UVM ScholarWorks

University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Reports and Policy Briefs Collections 2-25-2020 Agricultural Biosecurity: Reducing risks and impacts of livestock diseases Stephen Posner University of Vermont, sposner@uvm.edu Scott Merrill University of Vermont Julie Smith University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/gund-reports  Part of the Agriculture Commons, Human Ecology Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, and the Sustainability Commons Recommended Citation Posner, S., Merrill, S., Smith, J. 2020. Agricultural Biosecurity: Reducing risks and impacts of livestock diseases. Gund Policy Brief. Burlington, VT: Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont. This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Collections at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reports and Policy Briefs by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact donna.omalley@uvm.edu.  THE ISSUE  Agriculture is a strong part of the U.S. economy and can be critical for economic development in other countries. Reducing the risks and impacts of animal diseases on farms is key to supporting a productive agricultural sector. Improved agri-cultural biosecurity can also be a strategy for: • increasing economic security, • enhancing community resilience, and • improving farms’ environmental impacts.   Animal diseases can spread among livestock, pre-senting risks to farms and people. Besides the movement of animals themselves, the move-ment of people and equipment among livestock farms is a primary route of transmission for many highly contagious diseases. In order to maintain a secure food system, we need to be able to effec-tively prevent, detect, and respond to these kinds of animal disease pathways.   NEW APPROACHES TO BIOSECURITY  A collaborative project among universities across the U.S. has advanced our understanding of how to lessen the impacts of animal diseases. This re-search has explored the human behavior dimen-sions of animal disease spread. The research team’s findings can inform strategies to reduce the risks and impacts of livestock diseases.   The findings are especially relevant to agriculture policy and management in the U.S. Many lessons could apply to international contexts as well.     Researchers used innovative methods to assess the human aspects of disease prevention in livestock.  KEY POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS   Policymakers and agency staff could use these research insights about human behavior to im-prove systems for agricultural disease prevention.  (1) Use careful communication of targeted messages  Information provided using visual images is more effective at influencing people’s behavior on farms than information based on words or num-bers. Communicating with visuals can nudge be-havior on farms toward more disease resilient practices that protect animal health.   Policymakers could support programs that de-velop better communication approaches and tools so that agency staff who help manage ag-ricultural animal health can more effectively mit-igate risks.   Agricultural Biosecurity Reducing risks and impacts of livestock diseases February 2020   (2) Create incentives for producers to adopt biosecurity measures  One barrier to adoption of biosecurity strategies is that producers feel they bear more of the costs while downstream sectors in the supply-chain (e.g. retailers, packers) receive the benefits. Poli-cymakers could create additional economic in-centives for producers, for example through cost-share programs, to increase widespread adoption that benefits the whole supply chain.  (3) Invest in prevention and preparedness   Investing in sanitary and phytosanitary systems, preventative measures, and pre-crisis prepared-ness can protect a nation’s agricultural sector. Agencies involved in regulating or responding to animal disease risks could engage in pre-crisis planning to coordinate resources, outreach strat-egies, and communication approaches.   (4) Invest in innovative research capacity    Many of the techniques used by the researchers are novel, such as the use of games to assess the dynamics of decision making, enabling them to determine how farmers and producers would re-act to disease or pest outbreaks without exposing animals to new infectious threats. These methods show the importance of using real human behav-ior data to improve response systems.   Agencies could invest in the use of ‘serious games’ to simulate tactical decisions about motivating biosecurity practices on farms. Research that in-tegrates animal science, social science, and com-puter modeling can help us understand effective biosecurity measures, compliance, and disease transmission pathways.    ‘Serious games’ simulated real on-farm decisions.   CONCLUSION  Attention to the human dimensions of animal disease risks can inform planning, communica-tion strategies, and incentives to motivate pro-ducer behaviors. Future research could test how findings apply in different countries and sectors and explore specific responses strategies with scenarios. With growing global concerns about diseases in animal and human populations, this research provides governments and the wider livestock industry with important ideas for further developing and honing best practice strategies. Any time spent now considering the challenges of maintaining biosecurity during a future crisis can be considered time well spent.  This brief is based on a 5-year research project supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under award number 2015-69004-23273.   CONTACT  Scott Merrill, scott.c.merrill@uvm.edu, 802-656-0711  Julie Smith, julie.m.smith@uvm.edu, 802-656-4496 

Agricultural Biosecurity: Reducing risks and impacts of livestock diseases

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Agricultural Biosecurity: Reducing risks and impacts of livestock diseases

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