Federal Funding Available to Support Food Animal Vets in Six Counties

New, Beginning Vets to Benefit from Loan Forgiveness Program

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two regions in south-central Pennsylvania have been designated as underserved areas for access to food animal veterinarians, making those veterinarians working in Adams, Franklin, Juniata, Mifflin, Snyder and York counties eligible to apply for the USDA's Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, or VMLRP, Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding said today.

"Animal agriculture is the foundation of Pennsylvania's leading industry," said Redding. "Ensuring we have the veterinarians we need to support our farms and protect our food supply is critical to the well-being of our entire state. This announcement is welcome news for our farmers and our veterinary medical students and practitioners."

Food animal veterinarians who work in the areas designated as underserved and commit at least three years of service are eligible for the federal loan repayment program.

The VMLRP will repay up to $25,000 of veterinary school student loan debt per year for up to three years. June 30 is the final day that applications will be accepted for the program. Eligible applicants will:

• Have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, or the equivalent, from a school accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association;
• Have qualifying educational loan debt;
• Be offered employment, establish or maintain a practice in a veterinary shortage area; and
• Spend 80 percent of the time as a food animal veterinary practitioner.

For more information about agriculture in Pennsylvania, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us.

Media contacts: Justin Fleming, 717-787-5085

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture