Building Team Chemistry: The Bigger Picture Behind Cows & Climate
Conor McCabe
Animal Biology Graduate Student, UC Davis
Grant Aims to Close Biosecurity Gap in U.S. Swine Production
Proactively enhancing wean-to-harvest biosecurity will help control the next emerging disease in the U.S. pork industry and improve U.S. swine herd health, all part of the Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) mission, including analysis of swine health data and targeted research to benefit the U.S. pork industry.
Priorities for the research proposals reflect input from key industry stakeholders recruited to join the SHIC Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program Site Task Force and Transport Task Force. These experts come from allied industry, academia, veterinary practice and organizations involved in pork production. Collectively, their experience and interest reflect contemporary issues related to wean-to-harvest biosecurity. Working at a rapid pace, each Task Force has met virtually several times to develop and refine priorities for the research proposals now requested.
Research priorities focus on site and transportation biosecurity and cover three areas – bioexclusion for preventing disease introduction on the farm, biocontainment for preventing disease spread from the farm to reduce risk to neighboring facilities, and transportation biosecurity for preventing disease movement from markets and other first points of concentration back to the farm.
Research Importance: Helping to Control the Next Emerging Disease in the U.S. Pork Industry
The Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program reflects SHIC’s responsiveness to an identified health vulnerability and is a collaborative effort to stretch SHIC’s producer Checkoff funds to safeguard the health of the U.S. swine herd.
How This Research Contributes to Our Mission
This Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity research project supports FFAR’s Advanced Animal Systems Challenge Area by improving animal health and welfare and pioneering practices that sustain our food system.
Matching Funders
SHIC, along with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and Pork Checkoff, joined together to fund the Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program to be implemented over the next two years. Phase 1 involved identifying subject matter experts and assembling task forces with the responsibility of establishing research priorities. Now in Phase 2, SHIC, FFAR and Pork Checkoff are supporting research to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols or ideas to implement biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phase of production.
