As part of that National Pork Board’s new operating structure, the first face-to-face meeting of the National Swine Disease Council (NSDC) was held in February. The 14-member group, made up of producers, veterinarians, packers, and allied industry, officially made African swine fever (ASF) the top priority for 2020 and spelled out key recommendations to keep it from reaching the United States while making contingency plans for a worst-case scenario.

Although the council’s members serve as the decision-making body, day-to-day work is overseen by staff representing Pork Checkoff, the National Pork Producers Council, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, the Swine Health Information Center, and the North American Meat Institute.

“The structure of the National Swine Disease Council will allow us to be quicker in what we deliver to producers than the old swine health committee structure would allow,” said National Pork Board member, Russ Nugent, director of technical services at Tyson Foods. “It’s all about building trust and adding value today. We have to focus on the areas that we can control and keep moving.”

The main ASF focus areas for the NSDC this year include:

• Feed restriction and mitigation strategies to prevent ASF entry.
• Identification and research of additional exposure pathway risks of ASF entry.
• Review biosecurity gaps for research needs for ASF prevention and preparedness.
• Research the effectiveness of commonly used disinfectants on the ASF virus
• Work with key groups to further support ASF vaccine development.
• Fund studies needed for detection of ASF, effective and alternative samples for surveillance, and focus on oral fluids implementation for national surveillance.
• All efforts supporting, but not solely limited to, prevention of ASF entry.

“Let’s remember that we control our own destiny,” said Dr Jeff Kaisand, Iowa’s state veterinarian and NSDC member. “We can’t just rely on state and federal government for answers. We need producers to take charge of what they can on their farms to stay ASF-free. This is definitely an all-out team effort.”

In other council actions, Al Wulfekuhle, a producer from Quasqueton, Iowa, was elected to serve as chair of the NSDC while Dr Matthew Turner, a veterinarian and head of pork live operations at JBS USA, was nominated to serve as co-chair.

For more information, contact Dr Patrick Webb at pwebb@pork.org, Dr Lisa Becton at lbecton@pork.org, or call 515-223-2600.

National Pork Board provides COVID-19 producer resources

As the COVID-19 crisis became clear this spring, staff at the National Pork Board began their response by offering information and resources to all segments of the pork chain with an emphasis on producer and public health and overall business continuity. David Newman, president of the National Pork Board, emphasized that the Checkoff always is actively promoting pork, making real-time adjustments to messages in the marketplace, and putting extra resources behind making sure consumers have simple and easy pork preparation top of mind.

To achieve a comprehensive approach to COVID-19, the National Pork Board continues to:

• Provide producers tools to stay informed, keep their people healthy, and care for their pigs.  
• Be a resource for consumers as they prepare more meals at home. 
• Stand ready to assist our packer, grocery store, and restaurant partners.
• Partner with our state pork associations to provide localized assistance.    

“By implementing the Pork Checkoff’s new strategic vision, our organization has been able to quickly adapt to the changing global situation caused by COVID-19,” Newman said. “With our producer-led focus, we are providing America’s pig farmers with resources and tools that will allow them to care for their people and pigs with the goal of minimal business disruption.”

For more information, visit pork.org/COVID-19.

Checkoff applauds USDA’s ASF action plan

In March, US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach announced a plan to protect the pork industry should African swine fever (ASF) be detected in the country.

“It’s our full intent at USDA to make sure we do everything we can to keep ASF out of the United States. But in the event that does not happen, we want to be prepared and we want to have the industry prepared for how we move forward,” Ibach said.

This plan will give the pork industry the ability to have uniformity between states in how they manage the disease. The USDA is working in cooperation with the state veterinarians and the US pork industry to lay the groundwork for the plan.

The USDA is prepared to implement the following measures to help ensure an immediate and effective response if ASF is detected in the United States:

• The Secretary would immediately take necessary steps to declare an “extraordinary emergency” establishing USDA as the leader of a coordinated national approach to control and eradication and ensuring the availability of funding and additional resources necessary for the response.
• The USDA would issue a national standstill of at least 72 hours to prohibit all movement of swine increasing USDA’s ability to stop disease spread and to act quickly to restore movement on a regionalized basis.
• For the depopulation of infected and exposed animals, USDA would work with states and industry to utilize the most efficient and effective depopulation methods approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association that are appropriate for the affected premises.
• To prevent virus from leaving infected premises, USDA will work proactively with industry and states to ensure producers have herd plans to deal with carcass disposal in line with regional and local requirements, supporting composting and burial in place as preferred options.
• To reduce paperwork, USDA plans to pay for virus elimination at a uniform, flat rate, based on the size of affected premises.

“In today’s pork industry, we’ve got producers who work in and have farms in multiple states,” said Dr Dave Pyburn, chief veterinarian for the National Pork Board. “Having different guidelines in different states is very confusing, so this is great that USDA is responding to what they saw in the exercise last fall as a need for our industry and figuring out a way to get it done.”

For more information, contact Dr Dave Pyburn at dpyburn@pork.org or 515-223-2600.