Environmental management and biosecurity are strongly linked; those who advise the livestock and poultry industry on environmental issues are positioned to not only understand their role in biosecurity, but to also better incorporate biosecurity advice into their consulting. Additionally, there are common themes around risk perception and tolerance in decision making regarding adoption of environmental and biosecurity best practices. A consortium of institutions, led by University of Vermont, is conducting in a multi-year USDA CAP project titled, “A human behavioral approach to reducing the impact of livestock pest or disease incursions of socio-economic importance.” Two issues emerging from this research present themselves as relevant to LPELC audiences. 1) the potential of service providers and supply chain partners in animal industries to be vectors in the spread of disease causing pathogens, as demonstrated through hog supply chain modeling and 2) social science findings on producer concepts of risk and adoption of biosecurity practices.

Presenters for this webinar include:

• Scott Merrill, University of Vermont
  
• Gabriela Bucini, University of Vermont
• Eric Clark, University of Vermont
  
• Tommy Bass, Montana State University
  

Handouts (PDF format) will be available the day of the webinar at the live webcast information page.

Find out more about this webinar or future webinars by the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center (LPELC).