Protecting the Agricultural Economy and Global Commerce

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Protecting the Agricultural Economy and Global
Commerce

• Shashank Nilakhe, PhD
• Texas Department of Agriculture

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US Agriculture

• Cash receipts 259 Billion (Crops 134 billion
  and livestock 125 billion).
• Twenty percent of the production is exported the
  rest consumed, processed.
• Exports 71 billion imports same.
• Non agricultural export 867 billion import
  1,777 billion.
• Texas 18 billion 3 billion export.

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US Agriculture, Export, Import ( billion).

• Top Export countries
• Canada 11.9
• Mexico 10.9
• Japan 8.4
• EE (25) 7.2
• China 6.7

• Top Import Countries
• Canada 13.4
• Mexico 9.4
• Japan
• EE (25) 14.4
• China 2.2

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Scope of My Talk

• Many steps are involved in food supply from
  farm-to-fork.
• Animal pathogen/disease emergencies are generally
  handled by the Texas Animal Health Commission and
  USDA.
• TDA handles plant pests and other Ag emergencies
  during crop production.

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Trade Is Not Free

• For every unit increase in trade, there is
  proportional increase in pest introduction.
• Commercial shippers generally play by the rules,
  but visitors, tourists often do not.
• A state is concerned with international,
  interstate and intrastate boundaries.
• Pest incidence, terrorist or a natural act?

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Crop Pests

• Estimate is that half of the pests in the USA
  came from elsewhere.
• Mere presence of a pest (no damage) leads to
  quarantines, loss of markets, and a drop in share
  prices.
• Ag is especially vulnerable to terrorist acts due
  to easy access to croplands and ranches.

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Biological Agents Against Crops

• Easy access to crops.
• Agents cheap to produce and easy to disseminate.
• May be masked as a natural phenomenon.
• May not kill humans, but cripple Ag economy.

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Ag Trade Requirements

• For export, need to show absence of pests.
• Phytosanitary certificates are issued to
  facilitate trade.
• For imports, each country maintains a list of
  pests of concern by commodity and mitigation
  measures.
• To avoid chaos, IPPC sets intnl standards.

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The approval process

• A country officially requests another country a
  permit to export a commodity.
• A country conducts a pest risk assessment, denies
  approval, or suggests mitigations measures.
• Dispute resolution Not to use pest issue as a
  trade barrier.

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Measures to Keep Pests Out

• Offshore pre-clearance programs.
• Stop pests at the borders, commercial shipments
  versus passenger traffic (CBP).
• Pest survey to find if key exotic pests have
  entered the US, and surveys to show absence of
  pests for export.
• Eradicate the pests if found, very expensive.
• E. coli peanut butter incidences.

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Measures to Implement

• Government can not do it all alone.
• Be vigilant.
• Report suspicious activities.
• Identify vulnerabilities take corrective
  measures.
• Be prepared anticipate and plan for emergencies.

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Conclusions

• Keep pests out of the country.
• Find out out if they have entered the country.
• Contain, control or eradicate, if feasible.
• Find ways to keep trade open and flourishing, but
  prevent pest introductions --- a win-win
  situation.