AgView: New Tool to Protect Swine Industry from Foreign Animal Disease Fallout
Instinct should never be underestimated, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of your pigs.
“As the eyes and the ears of the pork industry, if you think you may have something going on at your farm – even if it’s just a little tingling on the back of your neck that says, ‘Hey, maybe we need to get the state involved,’ – do it,” says Patrick Webb, DVM, director of swine health programs at the National Pork Board.
In order to keep foreign animal diseases like African swine fever (ASF), a deadly virus of pigs that has no cure, out of the U.S., Webb says producers need to stay vigilant as the industry is constantly at risk for the introduction of foreign animal diseases.
On Nov. 10, the National Pork Board launched AgView, a technology solution to help the U.S. pork industry respond faster than ever before possible in the event of a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak.
This web-based tool allows participating producers to easily share their farm’s FAD status updates and pig movement data with state animal health officials. The opt-in, no-fee technology – funded by the Pork Checkoff – will allow for contact-tracing of infected animals to help rapidly contain or regionalize a potential FAD outbreak, the National Pork Board said in a release.
According to a recent study from Iowa State University, an outbreak of ASF in the United States could cost the pork industry $50 billion over 10 years.
“When pork producers adopt AgView, they are not only helping protect their farms, but also the entire industry,” said Pork Board CEO Bill Even. “COVID taught us, the best way to quickly contain and recover from a significant supply chain disruption, which an FAD outbreak would be, is through real-time information, collaboration and a common data set to inform decision making.”
AgView was created to help the U.S. pork industry coordinate a unified response to FADs across the nation – from grain farmers to producers, to state health officials and veterinarians. When producer-users grant permission, AgView can securely provide state animal health officials with important, decision-making information in real-time.
“While local and state reporting protocols already are in place, there is no nationwide repository for this data and no mechanism for real-time sharing,” said Pork Board Chief Veterinarian Dave Pyburn. “Time is money in an FAD response, which is why we’re excited to have AgView to help fill that gap and facilitate a quicker return to business for producers, especially in our export markets.”
AgView is a single software platform that allows for the rapid and accurate visualization of relevant pig movement data and diagnostic test results to create visibility, accountability and trust during an outbreak of ASF or another FAD, the release said. To make this easier for producers, and ensure data is up to date, AgView can integrate with many existing record-keeping systems for easy synchronization. For those who do manual record-keeping, AgView also accepts imports from an Excel template. For more information, visit www.pork.org/agview.
“AgView is all about trust and transparency,” Webb said. “It allows our producers who want to do the right thing to work with their state animal health officials to be able to adequately respond to an outbreak without breaking the system.”
Interested in learning more? Watch Farm Journal’s PORK webinar on ASF with leading industry experts Gordon Spronk, DVM, of Pipestone Veterinary Services; Liz Wagstrom, DVM, NPPC chief veterinarian; and Patrick Webb, DVM, director of swine health for the National Pork Board.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
African Swine Fever: Trust Your Instinct, Be Prepared
Don't Take Your Eyes Off of African Swine Fever
