Small rural farms face shortage of veterinarians

It appears more graduating veterinary students are thinking with their heads, not their hearts, when it comes to career decisions. And who can blame them? Faced with as much as $120,000 of school debt, many new veterinarians are joining lucrative ventures, such as large corporations, private practices and large-scale production outfits. But, few can afford to work in rural areas with small family-run dairy farms or low-scale cow or swine operations, where the pay is low in spite of their importance to the country’s food supply.

“It’s an economic issue,” says Ron DeHaven, DVM, CEO, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). “It’s not that there’s a shortage of students with an interest in working in rural areas.” Rather, it’s a question of whether they can make a good living there, he says. “There has definitely been a decrease in recent years in new students looking to work in these areas. At the same time, the demand for [rural veterinarians] is going up and
the population of food-supply animals is going up.” So, graduates interested in working with large animals
are gravitating toward working with large-scale production-animal operations.

Legislation
In response to the growing shortage of food-supply veterinarians, AVMA has pushed for federal funding to help students interested in working with small farms repay their school debts, according to DeHaven. Indeed, the association has been instrumental in advancing such legislation over the years, beginning with the 2006 Farm Bill. “Congress is now working on implementing regulations stipulating who will be eligible for funding,” he says. “We may see close to $10 million to fund this shortage [of veterinarians].” In addition, AVMA is working with various manufacturers to implement privately funded loans as well, according to DeHaven.

Still, if the funding is not forthcoming in the near future, the country may face some serious consequences. In 2008, DeHaven was one of four veterinarians to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee of Health, noting how a national shortage of veterinarians could place the country’s food supply at risk, as well as interfere with the ability to prevent the spread of disease from animals to humans, according to AVMA. “This has been a gradually evolving problem for at least 10 years,” says DeHaven. In fact, the Department of Labor has predicted that rural food-animal practices will have 35 percent fewer veterinarians than they need by 2016, he adds.

It takes a crisis
“We certainly need to actively recruit students with an interest in food-supply medicine,” says DeHaven. “Some of the strongest supporters of increasing funding for food-supply veterinarians are companion animal practitioners. As professionals, we recognize the tremendous value of both [large and small animal] types of practice.” Veterinary colleges are doing their part as well by developing admissions criteria to encourage more students to explore food-supply medicine, he points out.

“There’s an old adage,” says DeHaven. “It’s much more difficult to get money to prevent a fire than to put it out.” Sometimes it takes a crisis to get things moving.

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Food safety

Hand in hand with the nation’s growing awareness of the shortage of food-animal veterinarians and its implication for the food supply has been an increased focus on the importance of food safety. “After the recent outbreaks of salmonella and e coli, President Obama has made food safety a priority,” says DeHaven. “We believe veterinarians play a critical role in [ensuring] food safety, [as they] oversee the wholesomeness of meat packaging plants.”

In July, the Obama administration created a post of deputy food commissioner to coordinate safety and took steps toward improving a system of identifying the origins of foodborne disease. For example, the administration directed the Food Safety and Inspection Service to develop standards by the end of 2009 for reducing salmonella in turkey and poultry. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a rule designed to eliminate Salmonella Enteriditis in shell eggs through expanded microbial testing as a means of preventing its spread.

Another concern of groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association has been the reported overuse of antibiotics to promote growth in food animals. Up to 70 percent of antibiotics produced in the United States are given to farm animals, not people, according to the PEW Charitable Trusts. Herds or flocks of farm animals are routinely fed antibiotics and related drugs at low levels in their feed or water, a practice which has been found to contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A lack of data on animal drug production, distribution and resistance contributes to risks associated with the development of antibiotic-resistance diseases in animals and humans, notes PEW. The Animal Drug User Fee Act, amended by Congress in 2008, permits the FDA to collect fees for animal drug applications, and it requires drug makers to report the amount, dosage, strength and intended purpose of antimicrobials used for food animals. As more veterinarians find it financially possible to work with food-supply farms, presumably there will be greater oversight of food production safety.