UW-River Falls hosts Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture annual meeting
Sept. 11, 2025 – The University of Wisconsin-River Falls hosted agriculture security officials from around the country Sept. 9-11, as the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture held its annual meeting on campus.
The partnership, which includes 19 states, works to enhance agriculture emergency preparedness, collaborating on surveillance of, preparation for, and response to threats in agriculture, and coordinating efforts with all levels of government. The group holds its annual meeting in a different state each year.
Randy Romanski, Secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and a UWRF alum, welcomed the group to Wisconsin during the opening session, sharing the importance of agriculture in the state proudly known as America’s Dairyland.
“Agriculture is a $116.3 billion industry in the state of Wisconsin,” Romanski said. “About one in 10 people working in the state of Wisconsin holds a job related to agriculture.” He noted that Wisconsin products are exported to 151 countries around the world, helping make Wisconsin the 12th largest exporter in the United States.
Romanski praised the partnership’s efforts to collaborate across state lines to stop the spread of threats to agriculture.
“When we’re talking about controlling pests and diseases and protecting humans and animals, it’s a pretty important safety net,” Romanski said. “There's a border between us and Minnesota... but that border doesn’t stop birds from flying.”
Kurt Grajkowski, emergency services coordinator with the Division of Animal Health at DATCP, serves as Wisconsin’s representative to the partnership and arranged this year’s meeting at UWRF. He said highly pathogenic avian influenza, New World screwworm and foot and mouth disease are some of the top threats on members’ minds. The partnership gives states a way to share resources and ideas for effective animal and plant disease response.
Grajkowski said he chose UWRF for the meeting to introduce members to a part of the state they may not be familiar with and to highlight some of UWRF’s unique offerings.
“In particular, I wanted to dial into Dr. Kurt Vogel and the Humane Handling Institute to raise awareness of the good resources they have that we can share,” Grajkowski said.
The Humane Handling Institute (HHI) was established at UWRF in 2022 to support the meat industry and is dedicated to enhancing the skills of industry employees and fostering consumer trust in meat processing establishments of all sizes.