Walk in Brent Sandidge’s shoes, and it’s easy to understand why disease remains one of the biggest concerns facing pork producers today.
Three years ago, Ham Hill Farms near Marshall, Mo., was just getting over Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) when poor market conditions hit — 2023 was the worst year for profitability on record, even topping 1998, according to economists.
“We didn’t have quite the production and then prices were horrible,” Sandidge says.
Since then, the industry’s financial picture has improved. Following a strong 2025, he says 2026 is off to a promising start: “I think 2026 looks like it’ll get us back maybe where we were at four years ago.”
While stronger hog prices have helped stabilize balance sheets, many producers say profitability can disappear quickly if disease enters a herd, making animal health one of the most important factors determining financial success on today’s pork operations.
“The farms that don’t have disease, they’ve got a much better chance of being profitable than the ones that do,” Sandidge says. “If you get PRRS or whatever, it can be a seven-figure deal for us. We’re just trying our best to keep it out.”
The High Cost of PRRS
Sandidge’s family has been raising pigs for more than five decades, giving him a firsthand view of how disease challenges have evolved over time. One of the most persistent threats has been PRRS, a virus that has cost the U.S. pork industry billions of dollars since it emerged in the 1980s. While producers have improved biosecurity and management practices, the virus continues to mutate, creating new strains that are increasingly difficult to control.
“It’s gotten airborne,” Sandidge says. “You can depopulate your farm, which we did two or three different times over the years, but for us that’s at least seven figures.”
Lost production coupled with the costs associated with eliminating the virus and rebuilding a healthy herd totaled $3 million for Ham Hill Farms the first time PRRS broke, he adds.
Even after eliminating the disease, there’s no guarantee it stays away. That’s one of the most frustrating realities producers face, as years of progress can quickly be erased by another outbreak.
“You can depop and get rid of the disease, but then you can have it right back a year or two later,” he says.
Biosecurity Measures Continue to Evolve
As the industry searches for long-term solutions, producers are focused on the steps they can control today. Across the country, farms are tightening biosecurity protocols, evaluating every potential point of disease transmission and making changes designed to reduce the chances of introducing viruses onto their operations.
At Ham Hill Farms, one change involves livestock transportation. Sandidge says truck drivers no longer leave their cabs when arriving to pick up market hogs. The policy was adopted after the farm experienced disease transmission concerns despite previous biosecurity measures. Sandidge says even small breaches can create opportunities for disease to move from one site to another.
“The truck driver would get out. He would change into our clothes and our boots,” he explains. “But then he would pull his paddle out and somehow, some way, we’d have a thing where one pig would cross the line, slip back onto our truck, and the next thing you know, we’d end up with a disease.”
The farm has also changed how replacement animals are sourced, reducing opportunities for outside disease introduction and giving the operation greater control over herd health.
“Now we internally multiply so that nothing comes onto our farm as far as animals,” he says. “We haven’t brought a new strain in, but we’re still trying to walk that one off right now.”
Industry Looking for Better Tools
The challenges facing producers extend well beyond a single farm. Industry leaders say endemic diseases continue to weigh on productivity across the U.S. pork sector, reducing pig numbers, increasing production costs and creating ongoing uncertainty for producers trying to manage profitability in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
According to Scott Hays, Missouri Pork Producers Association executive director, both PRRS and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), which entered the U.S. herd in 2013, continue to significantly impact pig numbers each year.
“It’s time for the industry to come together, as pork producers do, look at the tools we have available and try to make the issue better,” Hays says. “We lose a significant number of pigs each year to PED. We think we can get it out of the U.S. herd. It’s easier than PRRS — PRRS is the big one, it’s the most devastating.”
Once a farm becomes infected, recovery can take years. In some cases, producers might choose to depopulate and start over, while others attempt to manage the disease and gradually eliminate it from their herd.
“With PRRS, you can have a strain and it could take a year and a half, two years if you just want to walk that off the farm,” Hays says.
The challenge becomes even greater when multiple strains are involved.
“You could have a strain of PRRS, be dealing with it, getting along OK, and then have another strain of PRRS come in and you kind of start all over again,” he says. “It’s really a challenge. We just don’t have good tools to deal with it.”
Moving the Red Line to the Farm Gate and Beyond
Years of investment in biosecurity have dramatically changed how pork is produced in the U.S. From employee protocols to shower-in facilities and controlled access points, producers have built extensive systems to protect animal health. Yet despite those efforts, Hays says disease movement continues to occur between farms, suggesting more work is needed beyond the barn itself.
“We are one of the best in the world at on-farm biosecurity,” Hays says. “Where we have challenges is with bio-containment throughout the entire industry.”
One area receiving increased attention is transportation. Every day, hundreds of thousands of pigs move through the U.S. production system, creating countless opportunities for viruses to travel between farms if proper sanitation procedures aren’t followed.
“I don’t believe we’re washing enough trucks,” Hays says. “We need to be washing all of our trucks that are moving pigs because we know we’re carrying virus in those trucks.”
While trucks carrying pigs might be difficult to keep completely free of pathogens, Hays says empty trucks shouldn’t be spreading disease.
“There’s no reason to be spreading viruses on an empty truck,” he says. “That truck should be clean. We can make a big improvement there.”
Ultimately, he wants the industry’s biosecurity perimeter to extend beyond individual barns.
“We’re good at keeping it out of our barn, but we’re not evidently very good at keeping it off of our farm,” Hays says. “I want to move the red line from our barn door back to the farm gate or even farther.”
National Swine Health Strategy Takes Shape
Growing frustration over the industry’s inability to significantly reduce the impact of PRRS and PEDv helped spark a new producer-led effort. In 2025, pork producers, veterinarians and industry stakeholders came together to launch the National Swine Health Strategy, an initiative designed to coordinate disease management efforts across the industry and improve long-term herd health.
“The producers pushed this initiative. They wanted it,” Hays says. “Producers said, ‘Let’s look at the tools that we have. We know the problem. Let’s see what we can do today with the tools we have.’”
He emphasizes the strategy isn’t focused on waiting for future breakthroughs. Instead, he compares the approach to solving problems with the tools already available.
“It’s almost like the Apollo 13 mission,” he says. “Here’s what they have, solve the problem. That’s the way producers operate and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Support for the strategy extends well beyond state organizations. National pork groups view improved disease surveillance, traceability and information sharing as critical tools for protecting both animal health and the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. pork industry.
Maria Zieba, vice president of government affairs for the National Pork Producers Council, says improved disease traceability and herd health management will be critical moving forward.
“We are part of an integrated supply chain, whether it’s at a national level or globally,” Zieba says. “What U.S. SHIP will help us accomplish, alongside traceability standards, is to know where the disease is and where it isn’t. It allows us to track where we need more help, but it also involves the community of farmers to ensure we have a healthy swine herd for the future.”
What’s at Stake?
While disease outbreaks create immediate financial challenges for producers, industry leaders say the implications reach much further. As global pork production expands and export markets become increasingly competitive, the industry’s ability to control disease could ultimately influence whether the U.S. maintains its position as a leading pork exporter.
“Long-term exports are at stake,” Hays says. “We’ve been the low-cost producer for years and years in the world. But in the last couple of years, Brazil has passed us up on being a low-cost producer of pork. Brazil doesn’t have PED or PRRS in their country.”
“If we want to be in the pig business and be able to export, we have to figure this out,” Sandidge adds.
Another key piece of the puzzle is securing congressional support for the Swine Health Improvement Program (SHIP), which was developed by producers and later transferred to USDA oversight.
“We need Congress to fund [SHIP], to put together the committee that’ll run that, and codify it so we can make it a full USDA program,” Hays says. “We need that up and running so producers can share information about pig movements without the threat of litigation because that’s another way we’ll make a difference.”
