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US pork producers on heightened alert following ASF finding in Germany
The US pork industry is on heightened alert as Germany, the EU’s largest pork producer, has recently confirmed six cases of African swine fever in wild boars.
Meanwhile, members of the National Pork Producers Council are urging the US government to make sure Customs and Border Patrol is properly funded. NPPC president and Wisconsin pork producers AV Roth says ag inspectors are the first line of defense in preventing foreign animal diseases from entering the US. “An outbreak of African swine fever, or other foreign animal diseases in the US would be a devastating blow to hog farmers already teetering on the edge,” he says.
CBP is funded by agriculture quarantine inspection user fees and those, along with the reserve fund are set to dry up at the end of this month.
NPPC’s Nick Giordano says there’s currently not any money allocated in a Continuing Resolution that would make up for the shortfall. “We’ve got to secure our borders,” he says. “We’ve got to not only protect our livestock, but our plants. We’ve got to protect US agriculture. This is a big issue.”
As of this week, China, South Korea, and Japan have all halted imports of pork from Germany.
