Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

About Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), along with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and Pork Checkoff joined together to fund a Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program to help control the next emerging disease in the U.S. pork industry and improve U.S. swine herd health.

The program partners seek a second round of research proposals to investigate cost-effective and innovative technologies, protocols or ideas to enhance biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phase of pig production. The first round of proposal solicitation, selection, and funding was completed in February.

The updated research priorities in the second round of solicitation continue to focus on site and transportation biosecurity. They cover five targeted areas:

1. personnel biocontainment and bioexclusion,
2. mortality management,
3. truck wash efficiency,
4. alternatives to fixed truck wash, and
5. packing plant biocontainment.

The program seeks novel tools in any of the five areas to help result in comprehensive biosecurity enhancement.

Proposals are expected to define current practices and investigate innovative and novel protocols or technologies that may have a cost, efficiency or implementation advantage. Herd health status monitoring, instead of disease outbreak incidence, can be used to demonstrate success of the protocols or technologies and aid in a required economic analysis of cost-effectiveness.

Collaborative projects that include pork industry, allied industry and/or academic public/private partnerships, demonstrate the most urgency and timeliness of completion, and show efficient use of funds will be prioritized for funding. Approximately $1.3 million is available for this second round of research projects; proposals are capped at $200,000.

SHIC, FFAR and Pork Checkoff anticipate the release of all research project results as they are made available.