Tackling Rural Veterinarian Shortages

At the Farm Journal Foundation, the mission is to create food systems that work for everyone – farmers, consumers and businesses alike. Much of its work centers on global food and nutrition security, as well as rural economic development. When research revealed a critical issue threatening both areas – a shortage of rural and food system veterinarians – the foundation recognized an immediate connection to its mission.

“The economic impact of a veterinarian on a community, state and national food system is undervalued in many ways, which was also a contributing factor to our taking on this issue,” said Todd Greenwood, vice president of strategic partnerships for Farm Journal Foundation. “The path to become, and the role of a rural veterinarian is complex, so we find often that shortages are caused when several factors converge.”

For example, he points to a student who doesn’t have access and exposure to a rural veterinary practice, or one who might need academic support and small business classes but doesn’t want the burden of $200,000 in debt.

“Our work focuses on the education to early-career aspect, data collection at the state level and working with policymakers to create and fund impactful programs,” Greenwood said.

The Farm Journal Foundation works with states through its partnership with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.

“Each state has its own unique rural veterinary system, so we feel state stakeholders must work together,” Greenwood said. “Therefore, we establish a partnership with the state who assists us in collecting nearly 20 data points and they commit to utilizing our veterinary education and early career online resource modules. Our assessment reports are often the first time that stakeholders have seen all the data points on one report. This allows us to work with the states to look for areas where the workforce pipeline is lacking or has attrition, and what factors are leading to attrition in early-career practitioners.”

Readiness and Assessments

Farm Journal Foundation’s State Readiness Program was launched to help states develop their own sustainable, self-managed solutions to address rural veterinary shortages. Early pilot efforts in Oklahoma, Kansas and Indiana have shown promising results, with each state benefiting in different ways based on its unique stage of readiness.

In Oklahoma, the Foundation’s assessment report supported an existing working group’s push for legislative funding to renovate the state’s veterinary school. In Kansas, where a rural veterinary task force was already in place, the program provided a more comprehensive dataset to strengthen their planning and outreach. And in Indiana, which was just beginning to tackle the issue, the Foundation’s report helped key stakeholders create a communications strategy to launch their efforts.

Encouraged by these outcomes, the Foundation is now expanding the program to Ohio and Maryland – with Maryland notably becoming the first participating state without a veterinary school, further demonstrating the program’s adaptable, state-driven model.

Additionally, veterinary ambassadors lead the education efforts and represent Farm Journal Foundation throughout the country.

Jody Kull, DVM, assistant teaching professor at Penn State University who is Farm Journal Foundation’s veterinary ambassador in Pennsylvania, said ensuring the exposure of students and support and success of rural veterinarians throughout the United States has a direct impact on monitoring for and preventing infectious diseases, promoting animal welfare and ensuring producer profitability.

“As a veterinarian and business owner in a rural community for almost 20 years, I saw the impact that a veterinarian makes in a community and, more importantly, the impact that happens when that veterinarian is not available when I transitioned to academia to teach pre-veterinary students,” Dr. Kull said. “A veterinarian in a rural area not only ensures animal health, but also monitors zoonotic diseases, vector prevalence and human health. Much of the role of a rural veterinarian is about educating and communicating information about animal and human health, animal welfare and making sure that community continues to be successful for many years.”

Over her career, she’s found many students and early career veterinarians struggle with the case and physical diversity that happens in a rural community at different farms including some physical challenges and varying hours.

“It can be professionally isolating to be in a rural environment far from veterinary colleagues and resources,” Dr. Kull said. “It is difficult to have long-term success in a community without a sense of belonging in an area. Rural veterinarians do tend to have a lower income/salary but similar educational debt to their urban veterinary classmates. All of these are equally important challenges as a new graduate or student exploring rural veterinary medicine.”

That’s why it’s critical to support, provide resources and options for students in communities, and ensure that they are successful in the long term with business support, financial support and veterinary mentoring.

“The Farm Journal Foundation modules have increased the conversations in our classrooms about opportunities for success in rural veterinary medicine,” Dr. Kull said. “It has introduced the idea of rural/food animal veterinary medicine to many of our pre-veterinary students and supported some of our former students currently in veterinary school with financial planning and mentorship. As a veterinary ambassador for the FJF, it has also brought these discussions higher on the priority list in my own state as well as many others to collaborate for additional veterinary support from state levels. Continuing to discuss federal veterinary support programs and suggestions for making these programs more efficient to ensure maximum affect has brought these concerns to national policymakers.”

Funding remains a challenge for the foundation, but resources from its supporting organizations such as the Zoetis Foundation, Merck Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim and the states have allowed it to scope the issues, find solutions and build pilot models.

“We do feel that by addressing factors impacting retention and reviewing federal and state policy and programs, it will go a long way in addressing education debt concerns for students and veterinarians,” Greenwood said. “As we look at the next three years, we will continue to engage USDA and policy makers through our ambassadors, expanding the use of our online education resource hub with focus on high school education and early career and continuing to support states by collecting data and supporting their path to address the shortage.”

Photo courtesy of Farm Journal Foundation