If African Swine Fever (ASF) were to make it into the U.S., it would devastate our hog production and our hog producers. The issue of keeping it out of the country was brought up during this week’s House Ways and Means Committee field hearing on trade that was held in Kimball, Minnesota.
Minnesota Farm Bureau Vice President Carolyn Olson spoke on the topic.
“We need to be talking now about what could happen if African swine fever gets onto the North American continent. That affects not only the US; It affects Mexico. It affects Canada and with our proximity to Canada geographically and the number of live hogs that moves back and forth, we need to be discussing that right now,” she said.
Minnesota is the second leading hog-producing state in the nation. Indiana also ranks high at number five. In fact, the National Pork Producers Council says, “In 2021, the sales generated from hog marketings and pork processing supported a total economic contribution of $1.08 billion in personal income, $1.76 billion in value added, and more than 21,044 jobs in the Indiana economy.”
Currently, ASF is found around the world including in Asia, Europe, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. Olson said it’s vital to keep it out of North America and funding for enforcement and detection are important to that effort.
“We need to be keeping it away from us as much as possible [through] enforcement, detecting the meats coming in, people trying to bring cuts of pork in their luggage, the Beagle brigade, and funding those,” she said. “Talking about the importance of that with our trade partners and looking at ways to mitigate the chances of it spreading is of utmost importance.”
While not a threat to humans or food safety, ASF is highly contagious and deadly among swine.
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