Food-animal Veterinarians and the Persistence of Rural Shortage Areas

Veterinarian services are an important input into food-animal agriculture to help increase animal health and wellbeing, and, in turn, food safety for consumers. However, veterinarian shortages in food-animal and mixed-animal practices have persisted across many U.S. rural areas for more than a decade, despite ongoing Federal and State efforts to address service gaps. Using USDA administrative data, findings show three quarters of U.S. counties have been included in State shortage area nominations to the USDA Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) at some point between 2010 and 2026. Many counties have appeared multiple times, signaling a long-standing difficulty in recruiting and retaining large-animal and mixed-animal veterinarians. Using data from the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, we find rural students enter veterinary school at rates proportional to their share of the population, yet the geographic distribution of food-animal production creates a greater demand for veterinary services in rural counties than can be met by the existing supply of rural-origin graduates and the economic returns from choosing rural food-animal practice relative to companion animal and urban alternatives. Using data from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and the American Veterinary Medical Association, this report provides new evidence on the factors contributing to rural veterinarian shortages by examining veterinarian services demand, and the demographic, educational, and practice characteristics of the rural veterinary workforce.