Michigan pork producer Joe Dykhuis admits part of the reason why he went on an international market development trip to the United Kingdom last year was because he likes to know where his Pork Checkoff dollars go, and he wanted to learn more about U.S. pork exports.
Not only did the trip affirm to him that the U.S. is the best place in the world to raise pigs, but it also opened his eyes to some of the challenges the U.S. pork industry needs to overcome to remain competitive.
In 2022 alone, the U.S. exported over $7.6 billion in pork and pork products to over 100 countries – nearly a quarter of U.S. pork production. If a foreign animal disease such as African swine fever (ASF) or foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is detected in the U.S., it would close export markets immediately and have a negative effect on the farm economy.
Dykhuis says that is one of the reasons why traceability is at the center of so many conversations today.
“Traceability is the missing link to industry disease eradication and proving regional disease-free status,” he says.
We Can’t Stop Disease Spread Without Traceability
Although foreign animal diseases such as ASF and FMD have been real threats to the U.S. pork industry for over a century, the threat of ASF has been amplified recently.
“There have been more cases of ASF reported globally in the past five years than in the previous 50,” says National Pork Board’s chief veterinarian Dusty Oedekoven.
Because of this, traceability is fundamental, he says.
“The ability to locate animals and groups of animals that may have been exposed to a disease is necessary to conduct epidemiologic investigation of disease. Traceability is centric because continuity of business is dependent on establishing confidence in where infected or exposed animals are, and where they are not,” Oedekoven says.
Reestablishing domestic swine movement following an FAD outbreak will help demonstrate to trading partners that the U.S. can safely move pigs within the production chain while limiting movement from areas of higher risk for disease to conditional permitted movement.
Industry leaders at the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) have prioritized preparedness for response and recovery from FADs, as well as a path to resumption of trade of pork products, Oedekoven says. Currently, NPPC is working to address USDA’s request for the industry to advise on a mandatory traceability program for swine. Meanwhile the National Pork Board is working to develop the traceability functions of their system.
“Each of these three initiatives are aimed at helping the industry have a legitimate chance to stop the spread of a foreign animal disease. We cannot stop a disease if we don’t have the ability to do full contact tracing,” Dykhuis emphasizes. “Without traceability, we will not earn back the international customers for our exports for the part of the country that are free from the foreign animal disease.”
We Need Exports
U.S. pork exports play a pivotal role in the survival of today’s pork producer.
“With 25% to 30% of our product being exported, traceability is a necessity for the U.S. pork industry,” says Joel Nerem, DVM, chief veterinary officer with Pipestone. “It’s table stakes, and we’ve got to get there. We need traceability in the U.S. that is real time and accurate.”
Nerem is an advocate for producers starting with AgView, an opt-in database and dashboard technology funded by the Pork Checkoff that allows producers to securely share location and movement data with their state animal health officials so they can rapidly determine where disease is and isn’t.
“From my experience doing emergency planning for the state of Iowa as a regulatory veterinarian, information and data is power,” says Patrick Webb, DVM, assistant chief veterinarian with National Pork Board. “Our biggest gap right now is getting data to animal health officials in a way that supports rapid regionalization and getting back to business quicker.”
Being able to share data in a way that makes sense to a state animal health official and allows them to make risk-based decisions is critical to be able to get business moving again.
National Pork Board and NPPC’s goal is to be able to convince export partners to purchase pork from regions of the U.S. not affected by a FAD if a FAD should ever strike the U.S.
“Without knowing exactly where the pork they are buying is coming from, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to convince export partners to do this,” Wulfekuhle says.
From an emerging disease perspective, Megan Niederwerder, DVM, associate director of the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), says traceability also allows the identification of pigs at high and low risk of infection based on physical location and contact with other pigs.
“The ability to trace pigs in a disease outbreak situation is critical to locating the affected pig populations and rapidly implementing control strategies in these populations to reduce pathogen spread,” she says. “As part of industry preparedness, traceability is key to business continuity for pork producers and export markets for trading partners following a foreign animal disease incursion.”
Consumers Want Traceability
There is a narrative circling that consumers are so far removed from the farm that they feel guilty about not playing a role in the production of their food sources, explains Clayton Johnson, DVM, of Carthage Veterinary Service.
“While I’m sure that’s true for a percentage of the consuming population, I personally don’t know many fellow consumers who feel that way,” Johnson says. “Regardless, retailers buy that narrative. Then, they tell their suppliers to come up with solutions. Traceability is where that discussion ultimately leads.”
Consumers are also asking pork producers to differentiate their product, says Alan Wulfekuhle, an Iowa pork producer.
“As more consumers want to know how the pork they are purchasing is raised, the demand to trace the animal from birth to the grocery store is growing rapidly,” Wulfekuhle says.
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U.S. Pork Can Compete, Dykhuis Says
