Is a deadly virus coming to Jerome County?

[Snowy Owl]

Is a deadly virus coming to Jerome County?
Ag researcher warns of looming disaster
By Matt Christensen
Times-News writer
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/03/13/news/local_state/108028.txt
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J?ROME

For several weeks, a parade of experts have testified to Jerome County commissioners about the state of agriculture in the county.

But none have painted a picture as ominous as a scenario presented Monday by Lud Prudek, a Buhl resident and retired policy advisor at one of Canada's largest agricultural research centers.

He told commissioners to expect biological disaster if the county doesn't change its approach to agriculture.

"You perhaps don't realize what a hot issue you're sitting on," Prudek told commissioners. "It isn't just dairy - it's field crops, too. We've made some huge mistakes, and we're headed for a wreck."

That wreck could entail the outbreak in the county of viruses comparable to Ebola, Prudek said, that can spawn when plants or animals are concentrated in numbers like those found in Jerome County's dairy industry.

"The greater the concentration, the greater the potential for a serious outbreak," he said. "You're sitting on a bomb right now."

Prudek's doom-and-gloom presentation did little to scare Bob Naerebout, president of the Idaho Dairymen's Association.

During a question-and-answer period following the presentation, Naerebout argued with Prudek about disease testing in the United States compared to testing in Canada, where Prudek was inducted into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame.

"The gentleman never showed any evidence that something like (a major disease outbreak) could happen here," Naerebout said of Prudek's warnings in an interview after the meeting.

Naerebout said Prudek's presentation may have been a waste of commissioners' time.

For several weeks, commissioners have heard from agriculture experts from government agencies as well as university researchers.

Some have been invited by commissioners, while other experts come at the request of two groups currently waging war over the dairy industry in the county.

The dairy opponents are led by J?rome residents Dean Dimond and Lee Halper. The dairy industry is represented by Naerebout.

Commissioner Charlie Howell said commissioners will continue to hear from experts before reconsidering a moratorium on new dairies in the county.

"We don't want to put our citizens at risk," Howell said after the meeting. "That's what this is all about."

Howell said he couldn't predict when commissioners might have enough evidence to rule on a moratorium.

"I don't know if we'll ever have enough information," he said.