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Pork industry planning for ASF export impacts
Outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in parts of the U.S. have brought some exports to a halt but pork officials say other animal diseases would mean a dead stop for their industry.
Chief Veterinarian Patrick Webb with the National Pork Board tells Brownfield the poultry industry has battled H5N1 before and has been able to minimize its impact to ag exports.
“They have a lot of the tools that they need—the National Poultry Improvement Plan and other tools—that allow them to quickly regionalize and then it becomes what the importing country wants,” he explains.
But for pork, if African Swine Fever or another foreign animal disease were to enter the U.S., nearly 30 percent of its market would be left without a buyer.
“We’re talking about a $15 billion revenue loss if we can get this disease under control in two years,” he says.
Webb says the industry is working on regionalizing trade with export partners in the event of an outbreak and needs transparency and data to prove the safety of products which their AgView database can support.
Brownfield interviewed Webb during the Michigan Professional Pork Producers Symposium in Lansing.
