To help prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF) to the U.S., USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the dedication of up to $500 million to expand efforts to coordinate monitoring, surveillance, prevention, quarantine and eradication activities through USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
This $500 million is part of a $3-billion package of investments that will support drought resilience and response, animal disease prevention, market disruption relief, and purchase of food for school nutrition programs. The support will be made available via the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), Vilsack said during a speech at Colorado State University’s Salazar Center’s Virtual International Symposium for Conservation Impact on Sept. 29.
“To paraphrase then-Vice President Biden, this is a big freakin’ deal,” Bob Acord, a National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) consultant and former USDA APHIS administrator, said in a release. “This is unprecedented both in terms of the amount dedicated to one animal disease and of getting the funds upfront, before we have the disease in the U.S.”
Vilsack pointed out that when ASF struck China and other parts of Asia, the U.S. pork industry took notice.
“We recognized the risk, but felt safe because after all, oceans separated our hog industry from this devastating disease,” Vilsack said. “Today we now realize we’re not immune. Our entire hog industry here in the U.S. is on alert because African swine fever is now in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti.”
ASF outbreaks have proven devastating in other parts of the world due to lost production and trade. Vilsack said it is critical for all of us to work together to stop the spread of this virus, which is not a threat to people but is highly contagious among hogs and has a nearly 100 percent mortality rate. ASF was recently detected in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti, the first time in 40 years the disease has been in the Western Hemisphere.
“We have to act aggressively to help the Dominican Republic and Haiti contain this disease, so we can prevent this grave threat from reaching our shores,” Vilsack said.
These resources will support a robust expansion and coordination of monitoring surveillance prevention quarantining and other activities in the Dominican Republic and Haiti to help eliminate the risk, while also shoring up our efforts in the U.S. to prevent the disease from getting to the mainland.
“NPPC thanks Sec. Vilsack for providing additional funding for federal efforts to protect America’s 60,000-plus pork producers from this devastating disease,” said NPPC President Jen Sorenson. “The United States remains free of ASF, and the U.S. pork industry for the past several years has been doing everything it can to maintain that status. These funds will help that effort.”
Ever since ASF began spreading through Asia in 2018, NPPC has been urging Congress and USDA to prepare for the disease, asking for, among other things, funds for additional U.S. agricultural inspectors, more staff for USDA’s Veterinary Services, funds for APHIS’s Veterinary Stockpile for equipment to euthanize hogs and additional washout facilities for trucks that transport livestock, NPPC said in a release.
“ASF is a serious disease, with serious consequences for pork producers,” Sorenson said. “We’re pleased USDA recognizes the severity of this threat and is dedicating a lot of resources to deal with it and to protect the nation’s pork producers.”
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Manage ASF Risk: Where Are Your Feed Ingredients Sourced?
USDA Commits to Help Haiti, Dominican Republic Fight African Swine Fever
