When it comes to working together to help protect the US pork industry, collaboration is critical. That is why the National Pork Board (NPB), along with the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), and the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) continue to work cross-functionally to ensure complete alignment on strategies and tactics to help prevent and prepare for foreign animal diseases such as African swine fever (ASF).

“Along with our partners at USDA and US Customs and Border Protection, the pork industry is united in its commitment to do everything it can to help keep our country free of foreign animal disease,” says Dr Dustin Oedekoven, chief veterinarian at NPB. “We are also excited to have tools such as AgView that can help reduce the negative impact of a disease, such as ASF, by providing critical real-time information to state animal health officials when it is most needed.”

Dr Paul Sundberg, executive director of SHIC, agrees that AgView is a vital new tool. “As SHIC monitors swine disease outbreaks around the globe, we see the need for technology such as AgView as part of a preparedness/response strategy for foreign animal disease threats to the domestic swine herd. Learning from those who have faced disease challenge better equips the US pork industry to respond if needed and AgView puts needed resources in place.”

Echoing Sundberg’s sentiments, Dr Liz Wagstrom, NPPC’s chief veterinarian, says “To effectively respond to a foreign animal disease, we will need to know where pigs are, where they came from, and where they are moving. AgView allows us to visualize sites and movements and having producers use it now brings us another step closer to being prepared for a potential outbreak.”

The optimism in the swine veterinary community is also high for AgView. Dr Harry Snelson, AASV executive director, says “AASV member veterinarians can help ensure business continuity in the swine industry by encouraging their clients to participate in the National Pork Board’s AgView platform. Veterinary clinics can also facilitate a rapid disease response by utilizing the Account Management Partner (AMP) feature of AgView, which enables near real-time access to client data and laboratory results. Rapid data access and sharing is critical to effectively responding to a foreign animal disease outbreak.”

AgView’s AMP feature offers additional utility to veterinarians

While the overall function of AgView will remain focused on foreign animal disease mitigation and business continuity, the National Pork Board will be announcing additional AgView features in 2022, including the Account Management Partner (AMP) feature, which offers veterinarians quick access to future AgView capabilities such as near real-time lab results. In addition, key features include the ability to upload swine premises data, Secure Pork Supply documents and pig movements. This allows for a custom analysis of this information as well when producer-clients have granted their veterinarian access.

Plans for future AgView functionality include allowing veterinarians to access client diagnostic data once permission is granted. This will offer a single location to analyze even more data for improved response time. In the interim, the most recent AgView information can be found by going to porkcheckoff.org/agview. For additional information, contact Dr Patrick Webb, DVM, at pwebb@pork.org or 515-223-3441.