Peters

HOUGHTON — A bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters to add more agricultural inspectors and K-9 units at the U.S. border is heading to the president’s desk.

There is a shortage of 700 agriculture inspectors across the country, said Peters, D-Michigan, who called them America’s “first line of defense” against diseases and invasive species. The Protecting America’s Food & Agriculture Act of 2019 authorizes hiring 240 agricultural specialists a year until the shortfall is filled.

Supporting them will be an additional 200 agricultural technicians and 20 K-9 units, who are trained to sniff out whatever illicit fruits, vegetables and animal products may have gotten past human inspectors.

Michigan will get eight of the new inspectors. Having the second-most diverse crop base in the country makes Michigan more susceptible to a wide range of diseases and invasive species, Peters said.

“The more agricultural inspectors we can get on our border and get on borders all across the country and the more K-9 teams we can bring on board, the safer our farmers will be in the future,” he said.

The bill was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

On an average day, inspectors process more than 1 million passengers and 78,000 truck, rail and sea containers carrying goods worth approximately $7.2 billion, Peters’ office said.

About $910 million of that crosses through Michigan, which includes two of the nation’s busiest border crossings: the Detroit-Windsor crossing and the Blue Water Bridge.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see these Michigan agricultural inspectors and canine teams work firsthand, both in our airports and other border crossings,” Peters said during a conference call about the bill last week. “I can tell you they are doing an amazing job of stopping dangerous goods and harmful pests from entering the U.S.”

Invasives like spotted lake drosophila and the brown marmorated stinkbug came to Michigan via shipments from Asia, said John Kran, national legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau. They have since hurt Michigan fruit crops, including tart cherries, blueberries and apples.

The new inspectors are an additional guardrail against some risks that have yet to hit the U.S., such as African swine fever. Seen in Asia and parts of Europe, it has killed off more than half of China’s pigs over the past several years, Kran said.

“We’ve worked hard over the years to eradicate a lot of pests and diseases that impact agriculture negatively,” Kran said during the conference call. “We have some still that continue to surface from time to time. We think this is a good step in the right direction to help alleviate some of those pests coming in the future.”

The Michigan Farm Bureau was part of a broad coalition of groups calling for the bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau Federation, Michigan Agri-Business Association, and Michigan Pork Producers Association.

Peters also commented on his call for an investigation into the tart cherry industry, where he said evidence shows Turkey avoided tariffs by first routing its product through Brazil, which pays no duty. With Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., he has introduced a bill that would allow the U.S. Department of Commerce to self-initiate investigations for smaller industries.

“I think we’ve got to be really diligent and work to make sure that all of our crops are protected from unfair trade practices,” he said. “Other countries realize that if they focus on smaller industries, it’ll be easier for them to evade some of our trade laws.”