The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, Sept. 8, indicates a significant slide into worse conditions. Almost all of Barton County and much of the surrounding area are in moderate/severe drought with most of Stafford and Rice Counties in severe drought. The northeastern third of the state is now in abnormally dry conditions. Only 9% of the state is out of dry conditions which is down from 27% last week. The six-to-ten-day forecast (Sept. 15 to 19) indicates a 40-50% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and a 40-50% chance of leaning above normal for precipitation. The eight-to-14-day forecast (Sept. 17 to 23) indicates a 33-50% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and also for precipitation.
This has been a summer with food supply and safety concerns. Out here we think of agriculture and row crops and livestock production but in general, agriculture is feed and food production. Cyclospora in lettuce was a major story. Screwworm is moving up through Mexico and into the U.S. As of Sept. 9, the CDC website lists Campylobacter (three investigations), E. Coli (five investigations), Listeria (eight investigations), and Salmonella (21 investigations). There have been headlines everywhere from social to traditional media about the “explosion” of foodborne illness outbreaks. Let’s take the politics out of this and deal with facts.
Individuals examining the data indicate this year is really about the norm. The symptoms of the cyclospora outbreak make it more newsworthy. That and several deaths. What has changed is our ability to monitor, cope, and investigate food safety. At all levels and across agencies, our abilities are diminished. Even before the cuts in personnel over the last 18 months, many parts of the USDA, FDA, and CDC among others were short staffed and underfunded. The additional cuts in personnel make it much more difficult to monitor, report, respond, and investigate food safety and food borne illness outbreaks. Next, what are some of the parts of the government trying to keep your food safe?
APHIS, the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service is tasked with inspecting what enters the country to keep out invasive pests, foreign diseases, and harmful, potentially fatal, disease outbreaks and much more. Monitoring outside our borders, such as Central America with screwworm, is also key. They have been and are woefully understaffed considering the volume of stuff they deal with. The USDA is also charged with food inspection within our borders and again significantly understaffed. The FDA and CDC have had staffing cuts hindering the studying food safety and illness prevention as well as the investigative arm working with state and local health authorities. They are also involved in HACCP, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, plans to ensure food safety from the farm through processing and to your table or restaurant.
One other item that is often debated for meat is COOL, Country of Origin Labeling, which has come up again with the plan to import 300,000 metric tons of beef. You can already see country of origin on fruits and vegetables which was helpful when they finally narrowed down the cause of cyclospora.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207, or martinv@bartonccc.edu.
