Legislature helps fund USU programs: Diagnostic lab receives $160,000
Funding the Utah Legislature allocated to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food will be contracted to Utah State University, primarily to move the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from its current home in Provo to Nephi, Utah.
Tom Baldwin, director of the lab, said it does important work for public health. Staff felt confident the Legislature would understand the lab is an important thing and approve the funding, he said.
Lee Burke, assistant to the USU president for government relations, said without the funding to move the Provo lab, all of the equipment and services would have had to be moved to USU’s lab. That would have made things difficult for farmers and agriculture in the southern part of the state.
“There was a great desire on the part of the Legislature to help,” Burke said.
The branch lab is an extension of USU’s lab, and both labs are staffed by the university. The Department of Agriculture owns the building, and both the Department of Agriculture and USU have members on a policy board to decide the direction the lab will go, said Paul Rasmussen, associate dean for the USU College of Agriculture.
Baldwin said the lab monitors animal agriculture in Utah through blood and tissue analysis, as well as through postmortem examinations. If a problem is found, the lab reports it to the state veterinarian’s office.
There are about 30 diseases reportable by law, because they can severely damage the agricultural economy or spread to the human population, Baldwin said. These diseases include the West Nile virus and tuberculosis, which can both be transferred from animals to humans, he said.
“We’re actually the front line for all of those reportable diseases,” Baldwin said. “We’re the investigative arm for the Department of Agriculture.”
Nephi was chosen for the new lab because animal agriculture is moving more and more toward rural areas, and it makes sense to have the lab where the agriculture is, Baldwin said.
Utah County has other plans for the property the lab currently occupies, and there are no hard feelings, he said.
The Legislature made $160,000 available for the Nephi facility. Baldwin said much of the funding will be used for new equipment and building costs. The lab also plans to immediately hire a new staff member, possibly a veterinary serologist.
Baldwin said the lab will ask for more funding in subsequent years but is not complaining about the funding now.
“We’re delighted with it,” he said.
The USU facility could also use more funding for a new staff member, Baldwin said. It needs a veterinary microbiologist or virologist, he said.
The Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, which is the only full-service one in the state, also works with Willow Park Zoo, veterinary clinics, farmers and other animal owners, performing biopsies and postmortem examinations to identify nutrition problems or diseases, Baldwin said.
–katrich@cc.usu.edu