Local livestock producers who attended a free bio-security workshop Tuesday at City Hall in Centerville learned about foreign animal diseases and the issues the introduction of such diseases would bring to the agricultural sector and the community.

The nearly four-and-one-half hour Producer's BioSecurity Workshop, designed to provide classroom and hands-on training for response to a foreign animal disease event that would require action by producers, local emergency responders, regional veterinarians, state departments and federal agencies, was facilitated by Mark Shearer, Agriculture Liaison with Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.

"We want the producers to be aware of the process if something like this were to happen and what kind of planning they can do to help protect their own production operations," Shearer said. "And what kind of resources and people would be brought in from the outside to help a community cope with an agricultural disaster."

Part of the workshop featured an 8 foot by 24 foot scale replica of a small town and surrounding areas where Bruce Spence could demonstrate a more realistic outbreak and response.

The livestock industry in Iowa provides more than 100,000 jobs and generates more than $17 billion in economic activity. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the most likely bio-security threat for the livestock industry, could represent a loss of nearly $65 billion to U.S. producers.

Shearer said foot-and-mouth, which can affect any cloven hoofed animal, represents the worst case foreign animal disease senario.

"We look at that as worst case because it hasn't been in the United States since the 1920s. Our animals have no immunity to this disease or other high consequence diseases like it," Shearer said. "They are 100 percent susceptible."

Shearer said an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would make H1N1 look like a picnic. Endemic or naturally occurring diseases like anthrax, bovine tuberculous to pseudorabies are able to be controlled and mitigated and do not wreck the agricultural economy.

"That's what we're worried about. How do we help producers quickly, get their arms around a disease like this." he said. "If we have to depopulate a herd or in some cases maybe we can vaccinate our way out of a disease. The bottom line is, we have to look toward recovering the economy and being able to make our producers whole again so they can get back into business. That's the challenge."

The introduction of an animal disease like foot-and-mouth into the U.S., which is endemic to more than 50 foreign countries, would most likely be accidental, Shearer said.

"Just being aware of when you go to one of those countries and you go visit a production site, be very sure that when you come back your boots are washed and you've taken some time before you go back into your livestock so you don't become a vector or a conveyor of the disease," he said. "You have to take a few precautions to make sure that you don't transfer the disease into your own production system."