The New England Secure Milk Supply (SMS) Project

• Project Summary – brief description of the New England SMS Project.
• Memorandum of Understanding on the New England SMS Project – principles under which all six states agree to use a single, regional SMS Plan in response to an outbreak of FMD, signed June 3, 2014.
• Overview of the New England SMS Project – presentation for the joint annual meeting of the Northeast Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NEASDA) and Northeast US Animal Health Association (NEUSAHA), June 5, 2012.
• 2015 Update of the New England SMS Project – presentation for the annual meeting of the  Northeast US Animal Health Association (NEUSAHA), April 27, 2015.

• 2014 Update of the New England SMS Project – presentation for the annual meeting of the  Northeast US Animal Health Association (NEUSAHA), May 12, 2014.
• New England Perspective on Planning Movement Control and Continuity of Business – presentation for the USDA-APHIS "National Dialogue on FMD: Planning Movement Control and Continuity of Business," November 3, 2011.

Vulnerabilities and Preparations in New England

• Abstract of FMD as a Hazard for New England Dairies – one-page summary of the regional vulnerability assessment, June 30, 2011.
• FMD as a Hazard for New England Dairies – overview of regional dairy operations and assessment of their vulnerability to FMD, with documentation, June 30, 2011.
• Assessing Farm Readiness for Emergency Milk Movement in New England – brief description of a NESAASA's effort to identify the capacity of dairy farms in the region to meet biosecurity requirements for shipping milk to market during a FAD outbreak., August 1, 2014.
• Readiness Rating for Continuity of Dairy Operations in a FMD Control Area – poster for the 7th International Symposium on Emerging and Re-emerging Pig Diseases, Kyoto Japan, June 21-24, 2015.
• Dairy Farms That Touch the Public and Plans for Coping with FMD in New England – assessment of the importance of direct-to-consumer trade for regional dairies, attendant vulnerability, and strategies for reducing risk of disease transmission in an outbreak, January 18, 2013.
• New England as a Jurisdiction for Supporting Continuity of Dairy Operations – a reassessment of the six-state focus in this SMS project, in light of more detailed, comprehensive, and up-to-date information, with special attention to the Federal Milk Order and New York, December 30, 2013.
• New York Suppliers, Routes, and Strategies for Continuity of Dairy Commerce in New England – analysis and recommendations to sustain shipments of unpasteurized milk from New York to New England in an animal-disease emergency, January 20, 2014.
• Policy Toward Dairy Farms with Swine – analysis and SMS implications for dairy farms with pigs, March, 2014.
• Using a Hose to Improve Farm Biosecurity During Milk Pickup in a FAD Emergency – rationale and procedures for a using an on-farm hose to move milk to a tanker, parked at a safe distance from the milk house, when picking up milk in a Control Area in New England.
• Trends and Tactics for Sustaining Dairies in New England: An Update – presentation for the annual Leadership Meeting of the New England Veterinary Medical Association (NEVMA), September 27, 2013.
• Updating Weights of Criteria in the Readiness Rating – integrating contributions from associates of the Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health (USDA-APHIS-VS CEAH) in the calculation of SMS readiness in New England, August 1, 2014.
• Notes on Using NESAASA Data – step-by-step instructions on how officials can access and use information on New England dairies in an emergency, August 1, 2014.
• Readiness of New England Dairy Farms for SMS – A snaphsot of dairy production and biosecurity capabilities, to help anticipate ways that various minimum Readiness Ratings would affect continuity of dairy operations in a FMD Control Area, August 1, 2014.

• Progress in Readiness Reviews – update on coverage of NESAASA database, February 26, 2014.

Reports on the Bigger Picture

• Lessons Learned from Recent Outbreaks of Highly Contagious Livestock Disease – January, 2017.
• Disease Risk Management Capabilities of Livestock Handlers on American Farms – information on the ability of farm employees to meet stakeholder expectations for the prevention and response to disease outbreaks , September, 2017.
• Economic Perspectives on Management of Livestock-Disease Emergencies – February 23, 2017.
• Biosecurity in Agriculture – Perspectives from Social Science – July 19, 2017.
• A ‘Readiness Rating’ for Balancing Biosecurity Priorities in FMD Preparedness and Response – slides from a presentation to OS'16, the Open Session of the European Commission for the Control of FMD (EuFMD), a commission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in Cascais, Portugal, October 26, 2016. On-line video.
• Biosecurity, Infection Control, and Continuity of Dairy Operations in FMD Response: A New England Perspective – analysis of ways to sustain dairy operations in an outbreak, particularly biosecurity requirements for allowing farms to ship milk to processors, and a defense of variants like the New England SMS Plan, August 1, 2015.
• Farm Biosecurity: A Reassessment of Feasible Benefits in an Outbreak – Slides from a presentation to the Committee on Foreign and Emerging Diseases at the USAHA Annual Meeting, October 27, 2015.
• Communicating with Dairy Consumers about FMD – guide to risk communication, April 2013.

Overview of Milk Movement and FMD Vulnerabilty by State

• • Connecticut
  • Maine

• • Massachusetts 
    
  • New Hampshire 
    

• Rhode Island
• Vermont

Resources for Managing Readiness Data (returned to states in 2016)

• Log-in for regulatory authorities to manage data on milk producers, processors, and haulers (IIAD)
  ​         See:  Notes on Using NESAASA Data
• Log-in for regulatory authorities to manage IDs and passwords for access to dairy data (IIAD)
• Log-in for regulatory authorities to compare and weigh Readiness criteria (Decision Lens)
  ​

​Richard P. Horwitz, Consultant to NESAASA and USDA-APHIS, 2010-2017