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Safeguarding American Plant Resources
A global marketplace is the future, and that future has arrived. In this marketplace, international travel and trade have not only made borders irrelevant, but also dramatically increased the risk of invasive plant pest introductions. The challenge to the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ) is defining its role in this environment, today and far into the future. To this end, APHIS-PPQ policies and procedures must be transformed to meet the demands of a world economy shaped by technological change, international economic integration, strategic alliances and partnerships, and domestic market maturation.
United States. Department of Agriculture
1999-07-01
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Plum Island Animal Disease Center [website]
"The Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit at Plum Island Animal Disease Center is the primary laboratory in ARS (Agricultural Research Service) responsible for research on foreign animal diseases (FAD) of livestock, such as foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, African swine fever and vesicular stomatitis, diseases that could be accidentally or deliberately introduced into the United States in acts of agro-terrorism. The mission of the Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit is to carry out the research needed to understand the pathogenesis of these microbes and the host response to them, and to translate this knowledge into useful interventions and diagnostic tools for an effective response. This mission is accomplished by basic and applied research directed toward: 1) understanding the genomic structure, viral factors determining virulence and molecular pathogenesis of FAD agents; 2) determining the pathogenesis and mechanism of defense and host resistance against FAD agents in livestock species; 3) understanding the evolution and field epidemiology of FAD agents; and 4) developing effective disease control strategies including novel agent detection methods, better vaccines and antiviral drugs."
United States. Department of Agriculture
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Protecting America's Meat, Poultry and Egg Products: A Report to the Secretary on the Food Security Initiatives of the Food Safety and Inspection Service
Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has strengthened coordinated efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to food-related emergencies resulting from acts of terrorism. With a strong food safety infrastructure already in place, FSIS has been able to focus on fortifying existing programs and improving lines of communication both internally and externally. Through cooperation with industry, consumers and other government agencies, FSIS has an extensive system in place that, with enhancements completed and underway, can reduce the threat of, and properly respond to, a food security emergency. This booklet details ongoing efforts to improve food safety--for example, improving surveillance systems for identifying food-borne illnesses and outbreaks more quickly, ensuring that risk-reduction strategies are more science based, and conducting public education programs.
United States. Department of Agriculture
2003-01
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Animal Disease Traceability: Comprehensive Report and Implementation Plan
"A primary tool to respond to disease outbreaks is animal disease traceability. Tracing an infected animal back to where the animal may have been exposed to the disease as well as finding any animals it may have come into contact with enables us to find disease, quickly address it, and minimize harm to producers. In addition, an effective traceability framework also facilitates disease surveillance and promotes trade. The previous animal identification system managed by USDA was an initial attempt to fill gaps in traceability, especially in cattle. But the system was not widely accepted by stakeholders, and the Secretary announced a new approach to animal disease traceability in February 2010. [...] This document (Comprehensive Report and Implementation Plan) was initially provided to Congress in September 2010. This version reflects changes that were made after further input from stakeholders through the Traceability Regulation Working Group, a committee of State, Tribal and Federal representatives that was tasked with developing the proposed traceability rule. This revised report describes our current thinking about the rule and the plan to implement it."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2011-03
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APHIS Emergency Mobilization Guide
"The principal mission of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is to protect the health and value of U.S. agriculture and natural resources. To cany out its mission, APIDS works with other Federal agencies, Congress, States, Tribes, foreign govemments, agricultural interests, and the general pub I ic. The purpose of the APIDS Emergency Mobilization Guide is to facilitate the cost effective and timely coordination of resources needed to successfully respond to a range of agricultural health and homeland security emergencies by identifying standard procedures to guide the operation of multi-organizational support activity. This guide is designed to accommodate amendments and will be retained as current material until amended. Supplemental guides will be developed as needed. Appropriate arrangements may be negotiated with unions representing bargaining units covered by the APIDS Emergency Mobilization Guide."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2009
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Fact Sheet: Livestock Forage Disaster Program
"The 2008 Farm Bill authorized the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) to provide compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses for covered livestock on land that is native or improved pastureland with permanent vegetative cover or is planted specifically for grazing. The grazing losses must be due to a qualifying drought condition during the normal grazing period for the county. LFP also provides compensation to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses on rangeland managed by a federal agency if the eligible livestock producer is prohibited by the federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to a qualifying fire."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2011-02
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Avian Influenza: Protecting the United States: USDA Preparations and Response
"As part of the President's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, which includes both avian influenza and human pandemic preparedness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with its partners on the international and domestic fronts to help control the spread of high-pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2008-08
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Biosecurity: Protecting Your Livestock and Poultry
"Biosecurity means doing everything you can to reduce the chances of an infectious disease being carried onto your farm by people, animals, equipment, or vehicles. It also means doing everything you can to reduce the chance of disease leaving your farm. Healthy herds and flocks contribute to the health of U.S. animal agriculture as a whole. An outbreak of a foreign animal disease in the United States could seriously damage the domestic livestock and poultry industries. These animal diseases can have significant economic consequences from restrictions placed on the United States by its trading partners."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2007-03
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Backyard Biosecurity: 6 Ways To Prevent Poultry Diseases
This document, published by the United States Department of Agriculture, provides six steps for preventing poultry diseases.
United States. Department of Agriculture
2004-05
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Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: A Threat to U.S. Poultry
"Worldwide, there are many strains of avian influenza (AI) virus that can cause varying amounts of clinical illness in poultry. AI viruses can infect chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl as well as a wide variety of other birds. Migratory waterfowl have proved to be the natural reservoir for this disease. AI viruses can be classified into low pathogenic (LPAI) and highly pathogenic (HPAI) forms based on the severity of the illness they cause. Most AI virus strains are classified as LPAI and typically cause few or no clinical signs in infected birds. However, some LPAI virus strains are capable of mutating under field conditions into HPAI viruses. HPAI is an extremely infectious and fatal form of the disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) works to keep HPAI from becoming established in the U.S. poultry population. HPAI can strike poultry quickly without any warning signs of infection. Once established, the disease can spread rapidly from flock to flock. It is essential for the U.S. poultry industry to be alert to this disease threat."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2001-08
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Biosecurity for the Birds: Exotic Newcastle Disease
This fact sheet, published by the United States Department of Agriculture, provides information on Exotic Newcastle Disease. The second page is the report published in Spanish. "Exotic Newcastle disease (END) is a deadly poultry disease that can spread quickly, killing all your birds. […] END spreads through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges from sick birds. The disease affects almost all birds and poultry, even vaccinated poultry. END virus can be picked up on shoes, clothing, tools, vehicles and tires, and people who have come in contact with sick birds."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2004-06-16
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Comparison of Household Food Security in Canada and the United States
"Food security--consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life--is essential for health and good nutrition. The extent to which a nation's population achieves food security is an indication of its material and social well-being. Differences in the prevalence of household-level food insecurity between Canada and the United States are described at the national level and for selected economic and demographic subpopulations. Associations of food security with economic and demographic characteristics are examined in multivariate analyses that hold other characteristics constant. Comparable measures of household food security were calculated from the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 2.2 (2004) and the U.S. Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (2003-05). Based on the standard U.S. methodology, the percentage of the population living in households classified as food insecure was lower in Canada (7.0 percent) than in the United States (12.6 percent). The difference was greater for the percentage of children living in food-insecure households (8.3 percent vs. 17.9 percent) than for adults (6.6 percent vs. 10.8 percent). These differences primarily reflected different prevalence rates of food insecurity for Canadian and U.S. households with similar demographic and economic characteristics. Differences in population composition on measured economic and demographic characteristics account for only about 15 to 30 percent of the overall Canada-U.S. difference."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Nord, Mark; Hopwood, Heather
2008-12
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Consumer's Response to the 2006 Foodborne Illness Outbreak Linked to Spinach
"The human costs of the outbreak linked to spinach were relatively easy to count. Consumers in 26 States and one Canadian Province fell ill, resulting in 204 illnesses, including 104 hospitalizations, 31 cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome (a serious complication), and 3 deaths. It is now possible to look back at the outbreak and examine how consumers responded to the surprising news that eating spinach--a food recommended by nutritionists--was linked to an outbreak. Did consumers make fine distinctions among foods based on new safety information? ERS research revealed that consumers generally responded specifically to FDA's announcement; spinach sales plunged, but consumers did not panic about other vegetables. The short-term impact was a drop in demand for all leafy greens, as consumers briefly substituted other vegetables for leafy greens. Over the long term, consumers shifted purchases among leafy greens, but total expenditures for leafy greens did not change."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Kuchler, Fred; Calvin, Linda; Arnade, Carlos
2010-05
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Wildland Fire Management Futures: Insights from a Foresight Panel
"Wildland fire management faces unprecedented challenges in the 21st century: the
increasingly apparent effects of climate change, more people and structures in the wildland-urban
interface, growing costs associated with wildfire management, and the rise of high-impact
fires, to name a few. Given these significant and growing challenges, conventional
fire management approaches are unlikely to be effective in the future. Innovative and
forward-looking approaches are needed.
This study explored wildland fire management futures by using methods and diverse
perspectives from futures research. To gain foresight for wildland fire management, we
convened a foresight panel consisting of seven leading academic and professional futurists
outside of the wildfire community and two wildfire professionals. We engaged the panelists
in a series of structured online discussions to elicit their insights and perspectives on the
future of wildland fire management."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2015-06
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Termination of the Bracero Program: Some Effects on Farm Labor and Migrant Housing Needs
"This report was prepared at the request of the Farmers Home Administration (FHA), U. S. Department of Agriculture, which administers a program of loans for rural housing, including housing for migratory farmworkers. FHA's concern leading to the request was the pending expiration of Public Law 78, the legislation governing the Mexican National (bracero) Program. This program was the chief source in recent years of foreign supplemental farmworkers. Mexican contract workers entered the United States without families and were housed as single men. Aware of the differing housing needs of braceros and domestic migrant families who are potential bracero replacements, FHA foresaw the possibility that discontinuance of P.L. 78 could have a major impact on its housing program."
United States. Department of Agriculture
1965-06-17
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Risk Management: Core Principles and Practices, and their Relevance to Wildland Fire
From the Abstract: "The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture faces a future of increasing complexity and risk, pressing financial issues, and the inescapable possibility of loss of human life. These issues are perhaps most acute for wildland fire management, the highest risk activity in which the Forest Service engages. Risk management (RM) has long been put forth as an appropriate approach for addressing fire, and agency-wide adoption of RM principles and practices will be critical to bring about necessary change and improve future decisions. To facilitate more comprehensive adoption of formal RM frameworks, we designed this report as an introduction to RM. We repackaged and repurposed information from the extant RM literature to help readers develop a sound, science-based understanding of RM concepts. A primary intent of the report is to bring coherence and consistency to a topic that the Forest Service and the fire community have been discussing for years. We outline what adoption of RM would look like in practice, and recommend next steps as the Forest Service continues on its RM journey. Ultimately, we hope fostering an improved understanding of RM will lead to higher probabilities of achieving desired outcomes and conditions."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Thompson, Matthew P.; MacGregor, Donald G.; Calkin, David E.
2016-05
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Defense Against Radioactive Fallout on the Farm
"If we were attacked with nuclear weapons (atomic or hydrogen bombs), you, the American farmer, would be counted on to supply the food and fiber needed to keep the economy going. One of the problems you might face in doing this important job is radioactive fallout. This bulletin contains the recommendations of scientists, engineers, public health officials, Civil Defense authorities, and other specialists. You may not find here all the information that you would like to have on protection against fallout. Study of the effect of radioactive fallout on agriculture is a continuing project. Some of the recommendations in this bulletin may have to be changed in the light of future research. In the event of enemy attack, first provide for your own safety and that of your family and neighbors. To do this, you may initially have to ignore your livestock, your crops, and your land. Your best protection from fallout is to remain indoors, preferably in a basement or cellar, and to avoid contact with contaminated objects. When in doubt, seek shelter. Authorities will make every effort to let you know when it is safe to come out of shelter."
United States. Department of Agriculture
1958-05
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Measuring Food Security in the United States: Household Food Security in the United States, 2007
"Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2007, meaning that all household members had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year. About one-third of food-insecure households (4.1 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security--meaning that the food intake of one or more adults was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from those in 2005 and 2006. The typical food-secure household spent 35 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the survey."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Nord, Mark; Andrews, Margaret; Carlson, Steven
2008-11
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USDA Handbook on Workplace Violence Prevention and Response
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Handbook on Workplace Violence Prevention and Response "is a product of Secretary Dan Glickman's Workplace Violence Steering Committee, chaired by Deborah Matz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, and Joyce Fleischman, Deputy Inspector General. It is intended to be an overview guide for all USDA employees that explains what workplace violence is and provides tools and resources for preventing or responding to workplace incidents. It does not establish policy or regulations on workplace violence but rather serves to educate employees on the issue. This handbook is designed to be supplemented with agency-specific information dealing with situations and circumstances unique to the agency's environment and mission. Due to the widely varying mission areas within USDA, individual agencies have their own mechanisms and operating plans for dealing with workplace violence situations, and they will provide them to their employees. Where appropriate, this handbook will refer you to that agency-specific information. Many excellent resource materials already exist on the subject of workplace violence, and some of those materials are noted in the reference section of this handbook."
United States. Department of Agriculture
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Risk Management Plan: Risk Reducing Ideas that Work
"The 1996 Farm Bill will soon come under official scrutiny. Not only by a multitude of farmers, bureaucrats and ag advisors, but by the Commission on 21st Century Production Agriculture. The Commission was mandated by the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR) to review the impacts of the legislation and to make recommendations for future agriculture policy. According to Barry Flinchbaugh, a Kansas State Research and Extension economist, 'the commission will assess the ways in which production flexibility contracts have served American farmers; the economic risks that small, medium and large farm operators face; the security of the nation's food supply; farmland values and farm income; the success of ag regulatory relief and tax relief for farmers; and federal interference in ag export markets."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2008-08
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National Agricultural Library [website]
The National Agricultural Library "house one of the world's largest and most accessible agricultural information collections and serves as the nexus for a national network of state land-grand and U.S. Department of Agriculture field libraries."
United States. Department of Agriculture
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Colony Collapse Disorder Progress Report [2010]
"After the large-scale, unexplained losses of managed U.S. honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies during the winter of 2006-2007, investigators identified a set of symptoms that were termed colony collapse disorder (CCD). In response to this problem, Federal and State government, university, and private researchers, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service... mobilized to define an approach to CCD, an effort resulting in formation of the CCD Steering Committee, and publication of the CCD Action Plan in July 2007. Many organizations, public and private, in addition to those represented on the Steering Committee, are involved in the work to address the CCD problem. During the past 3 years, numerous causes for CCD have been proposed and examined. There have been many associations identified throughout the course of research; however, it is becoming increasingly clear that no single factor alone is responsible for the malady. Researchers continue to document elevated pathogen levels in CCD-affected bees, with no specific pathogen linked definitively to CCD."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2010-06
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Household Food Security in the United States, 2009
"Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2009, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.7 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.7 percent with very low food security. In households with very low food security, the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from 14.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, in 2008, and remained at the highest recorded levels since 1995, when the first national food security survey was conducted. The typical food-secure household spent 33 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Fifty-seven percent of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the 2009 survey."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Nord, Mark; Andrews, Margaret
2010-11
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Animal Product Manual
"The Animal Product Manual (APM) provides the background, procedures, and regulatory actions to enforce the regulations governing the import and export of animals, animal products, and animal by-products. These regulations attempt to reduce the risk of introducing exotic animal diseases into the United States and facilitate the exportation of animal products. The primary purpose of the APM is to enable Customs and Border Protection-Agriculture Inspectors (CBP-AI) at ports of entry to do the following for animal products offered for importation: 1. Identify and classify the importation 2. Determine if any entry requirements are to be met 3. Identify and validate the accompanying documents 4. Take final regulatory action. The secondary purpose of the APM is to enable Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Officers to do the following for animal products offered for export: 1. Identify which animal products PPQ is authorized to certify 2. Certify animal products for export 3. Refer other animal products to the government agency responsible for regulating importations of animal products."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2010-02
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Emergency Programs Manual
"The EPM [Emergency Programs Manual] serves as a guide for Project Directors and RRT [Rapid Response Team] members to conduct orderly and successful emergency eradication projects against introduced plant pests. The EPM: 1. Provides a checklist of general activities to organize a program, assign responsibilities, and plan dates. 2. Houses the response guidelines that provide information about specific, new plant pests. 3. Provides Project Directors and RRT members with national-level guidelines for the survey, regulatory, and control aspects of emergency eradication projects."
United States. Department of Agriculture
Floyd, Joel
2002-02
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Risk Assessment for Invasive Plant Species
Various domestic and international initiatives have elevated invasive species issues onto the policy agenda. In the invasive plants arena, risk assessment efforts have focused on classifying the invasive potential of nonindigenous plants. Currently, however, the field of risk assessment for invasive species is in an early stage of development, and there is a lack of broad scientific principles or reliable procedures for identifying the invasive potential of plants in new geographic ranges. Furthermore, identifying potential hazards may be just the first step in a more comprehensive risk assessment. At least for those regulatory decisions that may be disputed internationally or domestically, scientifically ambitious risk assessment for invasive plants is not optional. Therefore, there is a pressing need to formulate adaptable, biologically plausible methods and approaches in this emerging field that strike an appropriate balance between the demand for accuracy and precision in predicting risks and the constraints of limited information, time, and other resources.
United States. Department of Agriculture
Powell, Mark R.
2004
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Keep America's Food Safe
"The tragic events of September 11, 2001 forever changed our world. They proved to us that the unthinkable could become reality, and that biological, chemical, and radiological threats to our Nation's food supply are plausible. Since the terrorist attacks on America, critical infrastructure protection-including food security-has been of the highest priority at both the Federal and State levels. Ensuring safe food from production on the farm, within the processing plant, in transportation, storage and distribution, and at the store is a vital function to protect public health. This guidance is designed to assist transporters, warehouses, distributors, retailers and restaurants with enhancing their security programs to further protect the food supply from contamination due to criminal or terrorist acts. We recognize that not all guidelines will be appropriate or practical for every entity."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2003-08
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Agricultural Transportation Challenges of the 21st Century: Transportation, Handling, and Logistical implications of Bioengineered Grains and Oilseeds: A Prospective Analysis
The overall goals of the analysis are to describe and analyze the transportation, handling, and logistical implications likely to result from the continued adoption of bioengineered grains and oilseeds in the United States, including such factors as the number and type of bioengineered products likely to emerge; product certification and testing requirements; and the transportation, storage, and handling requirements that will have to be met if bioengineered products are to be marketed successfully. To achieve those overall goals, a number of specific analyses were conducted. The results of these studies are integrated and reported in this report. The remainder of this section provides a systems perspective of the dynamics inherent in marketing system change, driven by biotechnology. The report's second section will briefly review and assess biotechnology from the perspective of its potential implications for the marketing sector. The next two major sections will examine the evolution of the commodity marketing systems, employing alternative lenses. First, alternative market structures will be detailed by investigating key distinguishing characteristics relative to those of the commodity market channel. Second, the results of indepth futuring exercises with decision makers from throughout today's production and market system will be reported. The final section of the report will identify handling, storage, and logistical implications of alternative future paths for biotechnology.
United States. Department of Agriculture
Cunningham, Carrie; Sonka, Steven T.; Schroeder, R. Christopher
2000-11
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USDA Fact Sheet: Anthrax
Anthrax, a disease of mammals and humans, is caused by a spore-forming bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax has an almost worldwide distribution and is a zoonotic disease, meaning it may spread from animals to humans. All mammals appear to be susceptible to anthrax to some degree, but ruminants such as cattle, sheep, and goats are the most susceptible and commonly affected, followed by horses, and then swine. This document covers the spread of Anthrax, particularly in animals, and discusses what the warning signs are if one is affected.
United States. Department of Agriculture
2001-10
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USDA Food Security Assessment, 2007
In this report, "the Economic Research Service estimates and projects the number of food-insecure people globally, regionally, and in each of the 70 developing countries studied. Food-insecure people are those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories a day. The report also measures the food distribution gap (the amount of food needed to raise consumption of each income group to the nutritional requirement) and examines the factors that shape food security. Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. The number of food-insecure people in 70 developing countries rose from 849 million to 982 million in 2006-07, USDA's Economic Research Service estimates in Food Security Assessment, 2007. Food-insecure people are defined as those consuming less than 2,100 calories a day, the nutritional target set by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)."
United States. Department of Agriculture
2008-07
