Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Section 8. Summary In a global economy where people and products can so easily be transported many miles, the possibility of an agricultural emergency involving either the deliberate or naturally occurring outbreak of a foreign plant or animal disease is too large to ignore. These outbreaks are most likely in rural agricultural areas where government agencies are low on personnel, equipment, and expertise needed to stop the spread of the disease and eradicate it. The guide produced in this research should aid state and local officials in responding to agricultural emergencies. However there are a number of remaining challenges and implementation issues that will need to be overcome. First, local law enforcement officials must be educated to the scope of a major quarantine in a rural area. The research team found that many sheriffs are complacent or simply ignoring the possibility of this type of operation because they have no recent experience with emergencies where quarantines were necessary and because they lack the funds to conduct such an operation. Education and planning can go a long way in making people aware of potential emergency response resources and the other agencies than can aid in traffic control and help set priorities for handing the response. A county sheriff stressed that education and trust of the producer community was absolutely essential if quarantine or stop movement orders are to be successful. Biosecurity and detection of disease must begin on the farm and extend through the entire food production system. Many state and local agencies would be involved in a response to an agricultural emergency. Exercises involving emergency managers, law enforcement, local and state DOT representatives, and agriculture officials should be conducted at several locations. These exercises would require travel funds for county officials and could be patterned after the workshops held in this research. 65
66
