Homeland Security Grant Awarded for S.C. Ag-Watch

by Tracy E. Outlaw

Would South Carolina farmers and food processors be prepared to handle a crop or food contamination incident?  Would state livestock producers recognize a foreign animal disease?

A collaborative effort in South Carolina to address crop, livestock, and food security has received funding through a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s State Homeland Security Program.  It is administered by the State Law Enforcement Division.

Clemson University, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, has been awarded $410,000 for an education and training program called S.C. Ag-Watch.  The program is divided into three smaller grants to be administered by Clemson University Regulatory Services, Clemson University Livestock-Poultry Health, and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.  The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service also collaborated on the proposal.

The purpose of S.C. Ag-Watch is to protect South Carolina’s agriculture through awareness and response training through four components:   (1) An Ag-Watch manual will be produced containing information such as recognizing and reporting exotic plant and animal diseases, enhancing site security, and reporting unusual or suspicious activities;  (2) Security and awareness training about biosecurity, diseases, agricultural chemicals, and food security will be conducted through professional organizations and continuing education programs;  (3) Trained auditors will conduct security audits for farms and processing plants; and (4) Exercises will be conducted to test and build response capability for agricultural emergencies in South Carolina.

Regulatory Services’ grant allocation, totaling $172,000, will be used to hire a contractor to design and facilitate a functional exercise for agriculture and food safety.  This individual will also be responsible for planning a full-scale exercise to be conducted in 2009.

Regulatory Services will be responsible for training auditors to conduct security evaluations of agricultural sites.

Page maintained by: LeAnn Carver, leannc@clemson.edu