NADEFA THANKS CONGRESS FOR WORKING WITH US ON COMBATING CWD
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DEC 23, 2020 WASHINGTON, DC
he North American Deer Farmers Association (NADeFA), the nation’s leading voice for the cervid industry applauds Congress’ continued increases for funding to combat Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). On Monday evening, both houses of Congress passed legislation providing FY 2021 appropriations legislation. The bill is expected to be signed into law by the end of the week. This legislation includes $11 million for cervid health under the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). That represents an increase of $2 million over what was appropriated in FY 2020. The increased funds are for state efforts to manage CWD in wild populations, leaving $4 million for USDA’s existing programs. That amount is equal to last year’s funding for these functions. USGS also received a $2 million increase more than doubling their previous year’s budget. This brings their annual spending on CWD to $3,720,000. Also included was an additional $1 million for CWD research through USDA’s Agriculture Research Services bringing the total for that research to $4.6 million for FY 2020. This is the third straight year that funding for this research has been increased by $1 million. In the last four years USDA has gone from not funding CWD research to spending over $10M on those efforts in that time. USDA also has funding in this bill for a new research program through their Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins Colorado. The $2 million to start this program will make use of existing facilities already constructed for research into the disease. Creating this program was NADeFA’s highest
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research priority for FY 2021 and we offer our gratitude to Congress for providing this funding. This year has been different in how we interact with our federal partners and Congressional champions. It is because NADeFA members, leadership, and Capitol Hill Consulting Group have made lasting relationships in previous years with Members of Congress and their staff that we were able to overcome the obstacles and secure increased funding that will help eventually eradicate CWD. NADeFA Executive Director Shawn Schafer said of the increase, “Despite our inability to meet in person, Congress has continued to hear the needs of the farmed cervid industry, and made real strides to meet those needs. Once again Senate Agriculture Appropriations Chairman John Hoeven (R-ND), was instrumental to this success. These increases show that Congress is not forgetting about
® CWD’s impact while dealing with many issues that have arisen this year.” NADeFA has worked closely with USDA-APHIS for more than two decades on a variety of issues related to cervid health and national guidelines. The CWD Herd Certification Program, for example, is a voluntary, cooperative program that allows participating cervid producers to achieve herd certification status of their cervid herds and to meet the requirements for the interstate movement of farmed cervids. Shawn Schafer Executive Director NADeFA Office 330-454-3944
