The government would hire 240 agricultural inspectors a year to work at U.S. ports under a bill introduced on Thursday by four senators, including the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the lead Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The inspectors would work for the Customs and Border Protection agency and specialize in preventing entry of agricultural pests and diseases.
Sponsors of the bill said there is a shortage of inspectors at present. The bill would authorize the hiring of 240 agricultural specialists and 200 agricultural technicians a year until staffing is at full strength. The bill also authorizes the training of 20 new canine teams a year.
In March, agricultural inspectors and the “beagle brigade” seized nearly 1 million pounds of illegal pork products smuggled from China and tainted with the highly contagious African swine fever, said the bill’s sponsors, Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and John Cornyn of Texas. Roberts chairs the Agriculture Committee, and Peters is the senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation are among the groups supporting the bill.