The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced what pork producers have known for some time. Disease outbreaks can cause severe negative economic impacts and hardships. On Jan. 26, county delegates at the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) annual meeting in Des Moines supported two resolutions that would build a more efficient system for managing swine health incidents, according to an IPPA release.
The first resolution asked Iowa pig farmers to record and maintain pig movement records with both the source premises and destination premises identification numbers (PIN or Prem ID) in a format that would be easily accessible to the state veterinarian in the event of a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak.
“Quickly sharing that information with the state vet would help state and federal animal health officials make decisions about animal movement, a key to both containing the disease as well as keeping the food supply chain operational,” IPPA said in a release.
The second resolution regarding swine health supported a two-year pilot project to develop and demonstrate a U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan (USSHIP). The project would initially focus on African swine fever and classical swine fever.
IPPA is the first organization to support the pilot program, the release said. The move also makes sure that pig farmers get a “seat at the table” as the plan is developed. It will be use the 85-year-old National Poultry Improvement Plan as a model, IPPA said, for biosecurity, testing and traceability. The program will incorporate discussions with farmers, packers, swine veterinarians and state and federal animal health officials.
“Swine health issues, especially as they are related to FADs, would have an immediate and possible long-term impact on U.S. pork export markets, which is where one-third of pork produced in the U.S. goes. In the event of a FAD, it’s been shown time and again that countries around the world close their borders to products coming from countries reporting the FAD,” IPPA said.
The third resolution resulted in county delegates signaling their support of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) pork cutout contract that was launched in November 2020, estimating the wholesale value of meat in a hog. As another marketing tool, the delegates supported that IPPA, along with the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council work with CME to provide education on the contract for farmers, the release said.
Delegates also voted to delay increasing the Strategic Investment Program (SIP) rate. SIP, a voluntary program completely separate from the Pork Checkoff, supports non-checkoff programs at both the state and national level. Last year, IPPA members voted to increase the SIP rate from 10 cents per $100 of value per hog marketed to 20 cents per $100 of value, and to have that go into place on July 1, 2021. The resolution passed this year would delay that increase to July 1, 2022, IPPA shared in a release.
The SIP proposal, as well as the one to support educational efforts on the CME pork cutout contract, have been forwarded to delegates attending the National Pork Forum in March.
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