But while the 1970s legislative changes have had an impact, there’s a more complex set of forces at work. Political rhetoric often blames the decline entirely on environmental regulation. Bureau of Land Management livestock authorizations dropped from over 18 million animal unit months in 1953 to about 8 million in 2014. Meanwhile, the amount of grazing allowed on federal lands has dramatically fallen. Since the 1950s, the ranching industry has been battered by market consolidation, rising operational costs, drought and climate change. That narrative remains compelling, in part because it’s true. One of the prime drivers of the 45-year-old Sagebrush Rebellion, the movement to take control of public lands from the federal government, is the sense that rural Western ranchers are bullied by forces beyond their control. on the bottom of someone's boot.įMD is not transmissible to humans, and is different from hand, foot and mouth disease, often found in children.Like Tweet Email Print Subscribe Donate Now Todd Wilkinson, president-elect of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, predicts FMD will come into the U.S. "That’s why we’re so concerned about getting traceability in place, so that we can track those issues, and we can reduce the size of the quarantine very quickly," he said. as critical to preventing economic disaster. Wilkinson emphasized the importance of having processes in place to track FMD’s movements should it enter the U.S. "It’s a huge unknown, you never know what’s going to be coming… It’s the unknown, and not being able to monitor what you’re producing, food for others," she said. Ogden said there were other disease and health concerns as well, many of which were "unknown." From here, they go to every region of the U.S., Patterson said, and so FMD could quickly be "in every state," he added. crosses the southern border at Santa Teresa/San Jeronimo in New Mexico, according to the New Mexico Partnership. More than 60 percent of all livestock entering the U.S. "I think it’s a matter of time," Patterson told Fox News Digital. Both New Mexico ranchers, they shared Wilkinson’s fears of the virus reaching the U.S. Speaking to a room full of ranchers at the NCBA’s annual convention, Wilkinson warned "a lot of us are going to lose our livelihood" if the disease hits the nation's livestock.Īlisa Ogden and Loren Patterson are on the front lines of the border crisis. "Just think of that - no cattle moving anywhere in the country, or going in and out of the country, for up to a week… you’re going to see the beef industry just decimated," he said. If FMD does end up in the U.S., there is a mandatory 72-hour pause of all cattle movement, Wilkinson said, but he predicted the pause could be up to a week. The economic impact of a nationwide agroterrorism attack could reach $228 billion, according to the Department of Agriculture. In the U.S., an outbreak contained to California could cost $6 billion to $14 billion. That outbreak had an economic impact of between $12 billion and $18 billion. resulted in the slaughter of more than 6 million pigs, cows and sheep, according to the BBC. But the most likely way it’s going to come in is some manure on the bottom of somebody’s boot," he said. So there’s a number of ways it’s going to come in. "It can come in, certainly, with animals. has been free of FMD since 1929.Ĭustoms and Border Protection has told Fox News Digital there are an average of 6,858 migrant encounters at the border every day, and Wilkinson predicted this is where FMD could enter the U.S. And frankly, I don’t know how it’s been kept out to this point," Wilkinson said.įMD circulates in 77 percent of the global livestock population, primarily in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with parts of South America. "Our border is just so porous, if that disease comes in, it’s just going to devastate the industry. Todd Wilkinson, a South Dakota rancher who also serves as president-elect of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), told Fox News Digital it is only a matter of time before FMD makes its way across the southern border. The Biden administration’s border policies have led to a mass influx of illegal immigrants, and ranchers are increasingly concerned that they will bring with them a highly contagious virus that could cost billions and decimate the livestock industry.įoot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects cows, pigs, sheep and other animals with cloven hooves.
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