Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith:. U.S. has one of the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supplies in the world. But there is a severe shortage of food-animal veterinarians in rural areas, she says. This shortage threatens public health, food safety, food security and economic growth, she writes. More than 500 U.S. counties face a shortage of food animal vets.
Mississippi has counties without a single large animal veterinarian. Congress should expand the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program. The VMLRP helps fill positions in only a fraction of the nation’s underserved areas.
