Hog Production

Pseudorabies (PRV) Confirmed in Iowa and Texas Commercial Swine Herds

Fri, 01 May 2026 13:06:43 GMT

For the first time since being eradicated in the U.S. commercial swine herd in 2004, pseudorabies (PRV) has been confirmed in herds in Iowa and Texas.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the detection of PRV antibodies in a small commercial swine facility in Iowa. The discovery was made through routine testing rather than pre-movement surveillance.

Traceback Confirms Texas Connection

Initial traceback efforts reveal that five affected boars in the Iowa facility originated from an outdoor production site in Texas. Subsequent testing of the Texas herd also returned positive results for the virus.

APHIS is currently collaborating with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) and the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) to expand traceback efforts and identify any further exposures.

The Feral Swine Risk

Although the commercial industry has been free of the disease for more than 20 years, PRV remains prevalent in feral swine populations across the U.S. Officials believe this detection is a result of “spillover” from wild populations.

“Pseudorabies is still found in wild or feral swine populations, which remain a potential threat of exposure for domestic pigs,” an APHIS release stated. The Texas herd involved was housed outdoors, where contact with feral swine is possible.

Impact and Symptoms

PRV is a contagious viral disease that serves as a significant threat to herd productivity:

Adult Pigs: Causes abortions, stillbirths, and respiratory issues.
Newborn Pigs: Attacks the respiratory and central nervous systems, leading to sneezing, incoordination, and high mortality rates.

While pigs are the only natural hosts, PRV can infect most other mammals—though humans, horses, and birds are considered resistant.

Official Response and Market Safety

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig emphasized that the state is moving decisively to eliminate the disease.

“The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has spent years preparing for these types of animal health events,” Naig said. “It’s important for people to know that pseudorabies is not a food safety concern, and this virus does not pose a risk to consumers. The United States’ pork supply remains safe and secure.”

Export Implications

Despite the lack of risk to food safety, the detection could have economic repercussions. APHIS warns there may be limited, short-term impacts on the exports of U.S. swine and swine genetics as trading partners evaluate the new health status.

“Established protocols were implemented immediately in response to the incident and remain in place to safeguard the commercial swine industry,” the National Pork Producers Council said in a statement. “These steps were successfully deployed through swift action and close coordination with USDA and the IDALS. The National Pork Producers Council and Iowa Pork Producers Association support these efforts and remain committed to a coordinated response to prioritize biosecurity and prevent further occurrences.”

Pig Painkiller Patch Shows Promise

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:39:22 GMT

It’s been just over a year since the FDA issued a “Dear Veterinarian” letter that caught a lot of attention among livestock producers. The letter reminded veterinarians that aspirin and sodium salicylate are not approved for use in dairy cattle or any livestock.

“From an animal welfare standpoint, we know pigs go through pain. They have fevers and inflammation when they are sick. We can make them feel better with NSAIDs like we do in humans,” Brian Payne, senior director of commercial technical services R&D and innovation at Veterinary Pharmaceutical Solutions, said in a previous article . “When you’re feeling sick, you want to feel better. Pigs under our care should have that opportunity as well. When they have pain, inflammation or a fever, we can reduce that down so they start feeling better. A secondary benefit is that they produce better.”

To provide pain management and reduce repeated drug administration, Jeremy Powell, veterinarian and professor of animal science for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture , joined a team of researchers to test an experimental pain-relieving drug delivery method for farm animals using microneedle patches.

Although the patches may not have delivered an effective dose, Powell says it took a pivotal step that offers new leads for innovation, according to a University of Arkansas release .

Two Birds With One Stone – Improving Pain and Welfare

The team wanted to find a way to provide analgesic therapy to help control pain in livestock species while improving animal welfare. The project, which began several years ago in cattle with meloxicam, has been supported by a USDA grant.

According to the release, initial studies led to unsatisfactory pain management for cattle. Because of this, the multi-state team of researchers received approval to switch the experiment to pigs using flunixin and dextran, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are more soluble than meloxicam.

The goal of the study was to alleviate some pain after castration and tail docking. Researchers set out to see if the patch could provide five to seven days of pain relief without daily injections or handling of the animal.

How Does the Microneedle Patch Work?

Researchers made the patches with polyvinyl alcohol, collagen and chitosan using a square mold. The patches are about 1"x1" and have 625 pyramid-shaped microneedles that are 800 microns tall — about the thickness of a stack of eight sheets of standard copy paper. The medicines were incorporated at a dose of 50 milligrams per patch, the study says.

Application sites and morphological analysis of microneedle patches in a study by researchers within the Department of Animal Science for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering, and Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Macroscopic (center) and SEM (right) images of PVA–COL–CHI patches loaded with FLU or FITC-dextran highlight the consistent microneedle geometry.

(Reproduced from RSC Pharmaceutics with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry)

Medicine slowly flows through the microneedles from the pain patches for slow-release drug delivery, the release explains. The patch is designed to eventually fall off and continue degrading into inert natural products that do not generate contaminants, says Jorge Almodovar, the study’s corresponding author and an associate professor in the department of chemical, biochemical and environmental engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in the release.

“Designed to only penetrate the upper level of skin where there are few pain receptors, microneedles are known for being painless to mildly prickly, like pressing fine sandpaper when applied with light pressure, or a cat’s tongue brush,” the article says.

Although the drugs administered through the experimental patches did show up in the pigs’ system, the drug concentrations only reached about 2 micrograms per liter. Powell says they would need 3 milligrams per liter for the medicine to be effective, which is 1,500 times greater than what was achieved.

What’s Next for the Patch?

The project remains a proof of concept despite the limited performance, demonstrating that pig skin can absorb medication delivered through a dissolvable microneedle patch, the article says.

In the most recent published study, patches were applied to the ear and neck to assess anatomical site choice on systemic absorption. The team found patches work better on the neck than the ear, which Powell said may guide future testing.

The dextran-based patches on the neck achieved higher plasma concentrations than oral administration and ear-applied patches, “demonstrating enhanced uptake from vascularized regions,” the study explains. Meanwhile, the flunixin-based patches applied to the ear produced detectable plasma levels up to 72 hours after application, with a maximum concentration of about 1.9 micrograms per liter at 24 to 48 hours, “indicating sustained systemic exposure and reinforcing the potential for long-acting therapy.”

One of the other benefits of the patches was that no adverse responses were observed at application sites, the article says.

The findings emphasize the importance of choosing the right spot on the animal and using medications that the delivery method can handle are key to making microneedle drug delivery work better, the researchers note as they head back to the drawing board to improve the patch.

Editor’s Note: The study, “Systemic drug delivery in pigs using biodegradable microneedle patches,” was published in the journal RSC Pharmaceutics. The lead author, Katherine Miranda Muñoz, Ph.D., is a former graduate student at the University of Arkansas College of Engineering. Muñoz is now a postdoctoral associate at the University of Miami. Co-authors of the paper included Powell, Tsungcheng Tsai and Jacy L. Riddle in the department of animal science with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Almodovar, Ke He and Lee Blaney at UMBC. Almodovar was previously an associate professor and Ray C. Adam Chair in Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas.

New Oral Fluid Guidelines Offer Cost-Effective Disease Monitoring for Group-Housed Sows

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 19:36:42 GMT

Collect oral fluid samples from group-housed sows by hanging two cotton ropes per pen and allowing 60 to 90 minutes of sampling time to yield best results, suggests a recent study funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) and led by Jeff Zimmerman at Iowa State University.

As more breeding herds shift to housing sows in groups, the need for validating practical and cost-effective disease surveillance protocols in this population is greater than ever.

Oral fluid sampling has become a popular way to monitor herd health because it’s non-invasive, cost-effective and efficient. It’s also simple and safe for caretakers to collect, according to a recent nationwide survey on oral fluid sampling in U.S. swine farms published in Pathogens .

Zimmerman’s oral fluids sampling study in group-housed sows set out to determine practicality and best practices for the swine industry.

What Did the Sows’ Behavior Reveal?

Researchers conducted the study on a 6,500-head commercial breed-to-wean sow farm. Oral fluids were collected using two ropes per pen for four consecutive days across the pens. Sow behavior towards the ropes was characterized by individually marking a sub-set of animals and a 90-minute video observation was recorded, the study shows.

Results revealed oral fluids can be routinely collected from group-housed gestating sows using cotton ropes, a process used successfully in growing pig populations. In all groups and on all sampling days, the volume of oral fluid collected during the study was more than adequate to conduct diagnostic tests.

Larger Animals Need Longer Sampling Time

However, experts caution that sampling time in group-housed sows should be extended to 60 to 90 minutes to maximize participation, a longer duration than what is suggested for growing pigs.

The longer sampling time is needed for sows due to their larger size and the fact that fewer sows can access the ropes at any given time when compared to growing pigs, the experts say. The use of two ropes per pen provides adequate access while reducing competition across sows. By combining the two ropes from a single pen before sending them to the lab, you can reduce costs and only pay for one test per pen.

The researchers note that this study showed diagnostic targets, such as a gene, protein or antibody whose presence or absence is used to detect disease, in the pen environment are transferred into pen-based oral fluid samples. This confirms previous report findings in a study conducted by Tarasiuk with finishing pigs .

This explains why pathogens not shed via the mouth (for example, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, a highly contagious coronavirus that causes severe diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration in pigs) are consistently detected in oral fluids.

As pigs explore their surroundings, diagnostic targets in the pen environment are picked up; as a result, these targets are deposited in the oral fluid sample and detected by diagnostic testing.

Detecting emerging diseases and monitoring herd health in group-housed sows can be done with ease through oral fluid collection, the researchers say.

Visit the SHIC website to learn more.

Juggling Glass Balls: How Veterinarian Micah Jansen Prioritizes What Matters Most

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 14:55:49 GMT

“The key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no harm done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.”

When Micah Jansen, DVM, first heard the glass ball theory by author Nora Roberts, she remembers instantly connecting with it.

“As working moms, we have a lot of things we are balancing,” Jansen said on The PORK Podcast . “This concept helps me remember that I must differentiate the glass balls from the rubber balls. If I drop a rubber ball, like failing to get a deliverable to a co-worker on Friday, I can get it to them on Monday. But my daughter’s Christmas program – that’s a glass ball I cannot drop because it won’t happen again.”

She says understanding the difference between the two has helped her focus and be more deliberate as a working mom. It’s also helped her learn how to prioritize and say no at times.

“When I start getting upset about not getting something done or not being somewhere I wanted to be, I have had to learn to say, ‘Okay, even though I’m upset, this is a rubber ball. It is not the end of the world if I can’t accomplish this because I’m catching this glass ball over here.’”

As a swine tech services veterinarian with Zoetis, the struggle is real at times. No two days are alike for Jansen who has been with the company since 2015. From helping people understand how different products work and troubleshooting with clients on swine health issues to assisting with research projects and hosting student interns, Jansen has learned that her role requires some juggling.

Fortunately, she enjoys the challenge.

The Face of Veterinary Medicine is Changing

“The swine industry is constantly changing,” she says. “It’s becoming more integrated, and with those changes in structure, has also come a change in what swine medicine looks like.”

More production systems today have staff veterinarians who work full time and focus on their system’s pigs. Veterinary clinics are becoming more consolidated, too. There has also been a major shift from mostly men to mostly women entering practice.

She believes this may be another reason why the structure of swine medicine has changed, too. Women are multi-taskers at heart and as more women step into veterinarian roles, Jansen says they have sought out how to find balance between their roles at work and at home as mothers so they could do both well.

“I’m still the only woman in the room sometimes,” Jansen says. “But, I’ve never wanted that to define me. I try to focus on what I know without a doubt to be true and also be humble. If I don’t know the answer to something, it doesn’t mean I can’t find it. I’ve always been somebody who would rather not know the answer and come back to someone than to tell them something that’s wrong.”

Jansen spends a lot of time working with students through internships and other research programs. She says they’ve taught her a lot along the way. She is impressed how younger generations are realizing sooner in life that you only have so much time to devote to certain things like work or school, while also taking care of your mental health and well-being.

“They are better at saying, ‘OK, you want me to complete this task, but I know I have exams next week so I can’t commit to getting it done today. However, I will get to it as soon as I’ve completed my other exams,’” Jansen says. “Never in a million years would I have ever done that! But I admire them for being honest with themselves.”

Hard Decisions

A big part of being a great swine veterinarian is making hard decisions and offering clients holistic support.

Terry Moeller, a Zoetis strategic account manager and colleague, says, “Micah always strives to do the right thing when it comes to pig health, and she has extensive knowledge of critical financials that yield a strong return on investment for our customers.”

Her grasp of the swine industry and understanding of the decisions producers face every day have helped her be successful in her role.

“The decisions that we help our clients make are going to impact essentially whether or not they can feed their families,” Jansen says. “Regardless of if you’re in private practice or if you are a staff veterinarian working for a production system, you constantly must keep in mind the other piece of it that adds up fast. When we make a decision to treat an animal, it’s not just a single animal. You have to take it times 1,000, times 10,000, or times 5 million, depending on what decision you’re making.”

Abbey Briscoe, a veterinarian with Harding Veterinary Services, says this is one of the things she admires about Jansen.

“Micah doesn’t settle for ‘easy.’ She doesn’t have her mind made up with an answer to a problem for a client and genuinely takes her time to listen to everything surrounding an issue, gathering all sides and information before thoughtfully answering,” Briscoe says. “She will follow up with additional advice and options once she has had more time to digest and gather outside expert feedback on a case. She honestly wants her clients to have the best possible insight to an issue.”

One of the not-so-easy roles Jansen plays at Zoetis is serving as a go-to-person on influenza. She admits she actually enjoys studying influenza.

“I think people don’t like flu because it can be really overwhelming,” she points out. “Part of the reason it becomes so complicated is that the influenza virus is so good at changing. We continue to see changes in the virus over time, and what makes it even more nerve-wracking is that interface between pigs and people.”

Biosecurity is key to fighting influenza. She says it’s a constant challenge of knowing what you should do next when it comes to animal husbandry, pig movement or vaccination.

“And then what do we do about caregivers? Even if they’re sick, they want to come into work because they want to be able to feed their families. But at the same time, how do we decide when a sick employee could be putting that population of pigs at risk?” she says. “There are so many moving pieces.”

If she could share one message with the industry now, it’s a simple, but profound one.

“Let’s make sure we’re doing things the right way,” Jansen says. “We know the right way. We love data in the swine industry, and we always talk about how it drives our decisions. Let’s make sure that’s not just something we’re saying. Let’s make protocol decisions based on that concept and doing everything we can to get better.”

Jansen shares more about swine health, her days at the University of Illinois and her passion for team roping and more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Is a World Without PRRS Possible? Two Veterinarians Say ‘Yes’

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 17:34:13 GMT

Everyone experiences pain in life. Sometimes, if the pain is excruciating enough, it results in transformational change. The current pain level of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) in the U.S. is extreme, says swine veterinarians Scott Dee and Gordon Spronk. That’s why they are calling for transformational change in a viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association .

Dee and Spronk say it’s time to create a world without PRRS.

“We aren’t in the spring of our careers anymore,” Spronk said during an exclusive on The PORK Podcast. “We’re in the fall of our careers, and maybe it’s time to be reflective and hopefully speak into and encourage the next generation of pork producers that their life can be better. And not only their life, but the life of the pig, will be better if we had a world without PRRS.”

Why Now?
For more than 38 years, Spronk and Dee have been working side by side to fight PRRS. Why should the industry move to eradicate PRRS now?

“I have a long history as a veterinarian, but my family also raises pigs. We’re in the middle of a generational transfer,” Spronk explains. “It’s important for the next generation who will take over this operation to be encouraged about the potential of productivity, and what could clearly be achieved if we didn’t have PRRS circulating in our sow farms.”

The U.S. swine herd is currently dealing with variants such as PRRSV L1C.5 and L1C.2 that are spreading rapidly. These variants are more infectious than previous isolates, as well as highly pathogenic.

“These highly pathogenic isolates are moving around in areas between wean-to-finish barns, meaning that you can have your sow farm negative produce a group of negative pigs, place them negative, but then they become infected with lateral transmission,” Spronk says. “And our national swine herd mortality is to the level that it’s concerning from a productivity standpoint and competitiveness with other international competitors, namely Brazil.”

Field observations indicate pre-weaning mortality levels ranging from 56% to 100% post-infection, resulting in losses of $1 million to $3 million per 10-week period post-weaning, not to mention compromised animal welfare and compromised mental health among workers.

“The thing that really gets me about this one is the welfare aspect,” Dee says. “It’s the suffering that the animals and the people working on the farms go through. It’s worse than I’ve ever seen it. We know that only pigs can get PRRS, but people suffer when they watch animals die and work so hard to treat them. That to me, is a welfare aspect, along with the economics and the production issues that make this situation so difficult right now.”

What Does A World Without PRRS Look Like?
Dee says there are examples in negative barns of what a world without PRRS looks like – higher productivity, higher health pigs are more fun to raise.

“It’s a flourishing U.S. national herd with reduced antibiotic use, lower mortality, predictable productivity, and with satisfied employees working in a welfare-friendly environment,” Dee says. “In other words, a more profitable and competitive national industry for generations to come.”

Dee believes this could lead to freedom from other domestic diseases such as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and strengthened prevention of foreign animal disease.

When Dee served as president of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians in 2005-2006, he called for national elimination of PRRS.

“It was the right thing to call for but it was ahead of its time,” Dee points out. “We were missing two things. We were missing a clear understanding of area spread. How do we prevent the virus from moving from farm to farm? We know a lot more about that. The other is US SHIP. We didn’t have a united platform that we could all work together on to kind of collectively come together with decisions as an organization rather than just an individual. Now it’s time to have that conversation again.”

Dee and Spronk outline six non-negotiable practices the industry needs to adapt to survive.

Non-negotiable #1: The U.S. swine industry must eliminate PRRS virus.
The successful disease elimination of pseudorabies, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease can be applied to build strategies to eliminate PRRS virus from our national swine herd.

“PRRS costs our industry approximately $1.2 billion per year. Global competitors like Brazil, Romania, Chile and Denmark have either successfully sustained freedom from PRRS virus or are striving to achieve/have achieved national elimination. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to compete in the global marketplace,” Spronk says.

Non-negotiable #2: The U.S. swine industry must improve its biosecurity.
The U.S. must continue to raise the level of biosecurity across the national herd, through an evidence-based approach known as Next-Generation Biosecurity (NGB), Dee says. NGB targets prevention of viral entry into the breeding herd (bio-exclusion) via direct routes (pigs and semen) and indirect routes, i.e., mechanical routes, aerosols and feed.

“The same concept must be applied to the wean-to-finish sector through both the practice of bio-exclusion to protect standing growing pigs and the practice of bio-containment to protect the region,” he says. “This latter point stresses the need for strategies designed to reduce viral excretion from infected populations, such as the use of vaccines and the participation in voluntary animal health programs.”

Non-negotiable #3: The U.S. swine industry must restrict the use of live virus inoculation.
Live virus inoculation (LVI) involves the harvesting of farm-specific viruses through injection of serum from viremic animals to induce homologous immunity in susceptible animals.

“This practice is neither safe or efficacious, as the use of LVI in sows induces pregnancy loss across all stages of gestation, and does not produce sterilizing immunity,” Dee says. “In addition, when evaluating the productivity of PRRS-virus-infected breeding herds vaccinated with modified live virus vaccines (MLV) versus those administered LVI, MLV herds returned to baseline production significantly sooner and had significantly less total reproductive loss, versus herds given LVI.”

Routine application of LVI in pregnant females should be avoided and limited to a safer use as a one-time application to stable population of non-pregnant replacement gilts housed in a biosecure gilt development facility during a PRRS virus elimination program, Dee adds.

Non-negotiable #4: The U.S. industry must change its behavior regarding the movement of PRRSV-infected pigs.
Between-farm movements of animals and transportation vehicles enhance regional spread of PRRS virus, with vehicles transporting pigs to farms being responsible for most infections. To control the spread of the virus at the regional level, they are calling for change in how PRRSV-infected pigs are moved between sites.

“The co-mingling of infected and non-infected pigs at weaning must be avoided, infected pigs should not be placed near naïve populations of negative sow farm populations or standing growing pigs, and transport vehicles should be sanitized between movements,” Spronk says. “This is simple common sense. We know what we need to do, we just must do it.”

Non-negotiable #5: The U.S. industry needs an improved genetic response to PRRS virus.
Exciting advances are underway in the field of swine genetics pertaining to PRRS virus, Dee says. One approach is the editing of the CD-163 region of the macrophage to prevent viral infection at the cellular level, while the other involves genetic selection to improve the general immune response and robustness of the pig following challenge.

“Each approach has its own strengths and limitations,” Dee says. “I think we do have to temper our enthusiasm that there’s not a silver bullet for this disease. One size doesn’t fit all.”

Non-negotiable #6: The U.S. swine industry needs to participate in US SHIP.
Modeled after the National Poultry Improvement Plan and originally based on mitigation of African swine fever and classical swine fever, the US Swine Health Improvement Plan (US SHIP) has the ability to stimulate collaboration and reduce the impact of domestic diseases such as PRRS virus, they say.

Prior to US SHIP, a platform like this was not available, Dee says. However, the industry can now use this to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

“We are clearly ready,” Dee says. “There’s no question in my mind, after 38 years dealing with this thing, we are so ready. It hurts to sit still. Now is exactly the time to take all the information, all the collaboration that’s coming, and get going, because we know what we need to do. We just have to do it.”

Watch their exclusive interview on The PORK Podcast here or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Read the viewpoint in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

No One is 'Winning' in a Prop 12 World: 6 Witnesses Testify Before House Ag Committee

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 16:44:46 GMT

U.S. pork producers and American consumers are facing significant cost increases due to Proposition 12. And the data keeps proving it. In a House Committee on Agriculture hearing, “An Examination of the Implications of Proposition 12,” Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) said Congress must provide a fix for Prop12.

“It begs the question – if producers are paying more, and consumers are paying more, who is winning?” Thompson said during the hearing on July 23. “Thankfully, the complexity and unfairness of Prop 12 has been realized by both sides of the aisle.”

Six witnesses testified before the full House Agriculture Committee on the implications of California’s Proposition 12 for farmers and food prices.

Overregulation Hurts Farmers
Pat Hord, an Ohio pork producer and vice president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), shared his family farm’s story with the Committee. He said, “Despite producing Prop 12-compliant pork, I am here to say Prop 12, and an unmitigated regulatory patchwork, threatens our farm.”

Prop 12, a California ballot initiative, bans the sale of pork that does not comply with the state’s prescriptive and arbitrary production standards. Though enacted in a single state, Prop 12 has created sweeping consequences nationwide by fueling market volatility, imposing costly new mandates on producers, and paving the way for a patchwork of inconsistent state regulations.

“Spending my entire life raising pigs in a variety of ways, I’m convinced it’s best to allow production methods and consumption demands to take shape in the open market, as opposed to arbitrarily shaping them through poorly worded and short-sighted ballot initiatives,” testified Matt Schuiteman, a farmer and Iowa Farm Bureau board member.

The data shows Prop 12 is creating economic hardship. As of the first quarter of 2025, 12% of small pork operations have exited the market or shifted production away from breeding, citing regulatory uncertainty and high transition costs.

“Prop 12 opens a Pandora’s box of state regulatory overreach that threatens family farms across the country,” NPPC shared in a statement. “This overregulation hurts farmers, increases prices for consumers, and compromises our nation’s food security.”

Unjustified Price Increases
But it wasn’t just pork producers voicing their concern at the hearing over the obstacles caused by Prop 12.

“Harm is what Prop 12 has caused, smashing like a wrecking ball the livelihoods of small restaurants and the communities we serve by disrupting supply chains and dragging up the cost of culturally vital foods like pork,” said Lily Rocha, executive director for the Latino Restaurant Association. “It’s brought economic devastation to families already stretched thin.”

Rocha said Prop 12 is a death sentence for small businesses operating on razor-thin margins.

NPPC economist Holly Cook testified that USDA research and recent scanner data confirm the impact on consumer costs.

“A study released in 2024 by economists at USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist compared retail pork prices and volumes in California and the rest of the U.S. for a period preceding Proposition 12 (October 2019-June 2023) and for 8 months after its partial implementation date (July 2023-February 2024),” Cook said. “After subtracting any price increases that were also observed in the rest of the U.S., the study attributed the following prices increases in California to the impact of Prop 12: 41% increase in pork loin prices, 17% increase in pork rib prices, 17% increase in pork shoulder prices, 16% in bacon prices, and 20% increase in fresh ham prices. Overall, the report suggests a 20% average increase in the sales prices for pork products covered by Proposition 12 and minimal impacts on products not covered by the law, such as sausage.”

Recent retail data also revealed a decline in pork volume sales in California and a 2% to 3% decline in California’s share of national fresh pork sales. Retail scanner data compiled by Circana confirms that these trends have held up over subsequent periods, Cook added.

“From July 2024 to June 2025, the second year of Proposition 12’s partial implementation, prices for popular covered pork products in California were 24% higher on average, with a range of 12% to 33% higher across covered products, than they were in the year leading up to implementation (July 2022 to June 2023),” Cook said. “This compares to an average 3.6% increase for the entire U.S. over the same period.”

In short, Californians are spending more but consuming less pork than they were before Prop 12.

A Contentious Issue
Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, professor and Extension specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, noted the importance of recognizing that there are agricultural interests on all sides of the Prop 12 debate.

“Certainly, there are agricultural producers, groups and businesses in favor of congressional action to overturn Prop 12,” she said. “Similarly, there are agricultural producers, groups and businesses strongly against Congress taking such action, many of whom have already gone to the expense to comply after Prop 12 was passed and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) pointed out during her comments that Prop 12 is clearly a contentious issue, and merits thoughtful, bipartisan discussion.

“We cannot ignore the questions and challenges Prop 12 raises,” Craig said. “Even the Biden administration’s ag secretary said we need to treat this issue seriously to ensure stability in the marketplace. I agree that we cannot have 50 states with 50 different regulatory frameworks because of the significant challenges it would present to producers, but I believe that there are ways to avoid that situation.”

She also shared that many pork producers have made significant financial investments to make their operations Prop 12-compliant and that Congress needs to be mindful of the voters in California who exercised their rights under their state constitution to adopt this policy.

Thompson reminded the room that Justice Gorsuch noted several times in the majority opinion that Congress would be well within its power to act. Although Thompson doesn’t agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Prop 12, he agrees that Congress can and must act to rectify the burdens Prop 12 has imposed on interstate commerce.

Travis Cushman, deputy general counsel, litigation and public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in his testimony, “When a single state can condition access to its market on compliance with production mandates that override the judgment of veterinarians, farmers and experts nationwide, Congress must act. This is not a theoretical concern. It is already harming farmers, confusing the courts and threatening the viability of a national food system.”

Cushman believes the language that the Committee passed in the 2024 Farm Bill restores clarity, restores congressional authority and interstate commerce, and protects both producers and consumers from a patchwork of conflicting amenities.

The Patchwork Problem
“When we talk about any premiums that do exist in the market today, the prospect of a patchwork threatens the certainty and the sufficiency of those premiums in the long run,” Cook said following the hearing. “NPPC is seeking to provide certainty to all producers about the environment in which we’re going to be making these decisions and investing in the future of the industry.”

Cook said it was a long day on Capitol Hill, but it was encouraging to hear producers share just how much they care about the animals they raise.

In fact, Hord spoke to misconceptions that Prop 12 enhances animal welfare, citing American Veterinary Medical Association and American Association of Swine Veterinarians opposition to the law and how those pen requirements can “unintentionally cause harm” to animal welfare.

“There were some good discussions around producers caring for their animals and maximizing animal welfare, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because they have every economic incentive to do everything they can to maximize animal welfare,” Cook reflected.

She noted there were productive discussions on the impacts of Prop 12 from the farm level through the supply chain and all the way to the consumer.

“Producer voices are so strong,” Cook said. “Being able to deliver their stories to their representatives and members of Congress on the impact these issues are having on their farms is always the strongest message lawmakers can receive.”

Millennials and Protein Craze Boost Meat Sales to Record High

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 13:42:11 GMT

Despite the extreme inflationary pressure on income now, consumers continue to lean into their love for meat in 2024.

“2024 was the strongest year on record for meat, with growth for beef and chicken, pork, lamb had a really good year, bison, veal, you name it,” says Anne-Marie Roerink, owner of 210 Analytics, who conducted the 2024 Power of Meat study . “It was just an all-around fantastic year, and it really underscored that despite consumers having that pressure on income and being in the non-stop balancing act on what to spend their money on, meat won one big.”

How Did Meat Win?
When times are tough, people start to cook at home more often, Roerink says. A part of the dollar that came out of food service restaurants went into the retail grocery store space. She says part of the dollar might end up back at restaurants. But, that’s not a bad thing for the meat industry. The balance between retail and restaurants tends to be a good thing.

“For years, we worried about whether millennials were going to be meat and poultry consumers like the generations before them. The answer is a resounding yes,” Roerink says.

Millennials, especially the older half of this age group, are starting to come into their income potential.

“Many millennials now have children,” she adds. “And those children are starting to be the age where you think you go to the grocery store for the entire week, and about two days later, your pantry, fridge and freezer are empty.”

The retail meat industry sold 500 million more packages in 2024 than they did in 2023. Roerink says 62% of that 500 million-package growth was driven by millennials.

“That’s been a key finding for all of us,” she says. “Millennials do approach meat and poultry a little bit differently, so that’s going to mean more change in years to come.”

Another reason why the meat industry is doing so well is Americans’ massive focus on protein.

“If you walk around the store, from your mac and cheese to your Skippy peanut butter, protein call-outs are everywhere,” Roerink explains. “But at the same time, this is going hand in hand with some people saying, ‘I want fewer ingredients in the things that I buy. I want a more natural form of food.’ That combined focus on protein with more wholesome foods has really put meat and poultry back into driver’s seats as well.”

What Do Millennials Really Want?
Roerink says millennials are focused on convenience more than ever. This is largely attributed to their life stage – running around and balancing time between family and work like generations before them.

“They have more focus on sustainability and animal welfare,” she adds. “With their approach and values relative to meat and poultry, I think we’re going to see some different needs in terms of transparency. They truly do want to hear from the producers. They want to understand what kind of life the animal had, how you approach water management and everything else.”

She says it may sound crazy, but consumers do want to know how their food is produced. And if they don’t hear it from the producer, they may dream up their own descriptions, she points out.

“Often times when we think about our meat category, we use industry terms. We approach it from a scientific angle,” Roerink says. “This means nothing to consumers. They want to know more, but we need to speak in a language that makes sense to those consumers.”

Your Next Read: Consumer Meat Sales Are Higher Than Ever

Is the Swine Industry Ready for H5N1? Texas Veterinarian Says “No”

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 13:11:29 GMT

Nearly one year ago, USDA made a shocking announcement. Highly pathogenic avian influenza type A H5N1 (H5N1) was identified in milk and in cows on two dairy farms in Texas and two dairy farms in Kansas. A disease no veterinarian had previously feared in cattle had jumped from wild birds to domestic cows.

Scanlon Daniels, a large animal veterinarian with Circle H Headquarters in Dalhart, Texas, received a call 10 days prior to that announcement that he will never forget from one of his dairy clients that something wasn’t right with some of the cows.

“My client sent me a text: ‘I think I might have it,’” Daniels says.

He went out to the dairy, collected samples from four cows and submitted them to Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) as any good swine vet would do, he explained, during the American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting. He also took some nasal swabs and tested those in his own lab. He did a follow-up, collecting samples from 20 different cows later on that week and sent those to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.

The four cows that initially presented symptoms of decreased rumination, decreased activity and nasal discharge were eventually confirmed to have H5N1. Right around that same time, he said there were reports from Texas Animal Health Commission about a backyard poultry flock in the county next door diagnosed with H5N1.

Scanlon Daniels shares his experience with H5N1 in Texas.

(Jennifer Shike)

“We had a suspicion that it could have been influenza, because of what was going on with some of the detections in birds in that area,” Daniels says. “But from my standpoint, I was thinking about flu from all my experiences dealing with it in pigs, and it didn’t present as a primary respiratory pathogen. It presented as a mastitis pathogen. Once we knew to look for it in milk, it was super easy to find, but we had to get over that hurdle to be able to rapidly identify it.”

In the past 15 years, Daniels grew his practice to develop its own laboratory capabilities, conducting PCR and Elisa testing for swine, dairy and beef clients. This, combined with his involvement with H5N1 from before it was even identified as an issue in cattle, caused him to bring up an incredibly important question for the swine industry: Are you ready for H5N1?

Who is Steering the Ship?
To date, H5N1 has been discovered in one pig that was on a hobby farm with H5N1-infected poultry. Although this is considered an isolated incident and hasn’t been discovered in the commercial swine population, it needs to be on everyone’s radar, Daniels says.

Andrew Bowman, DVM, one of the country’s top swine influenza experts, joined The PORK Podcast during a special report on H5N1 last fall. A professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University, he is well-known for his expertise in swine production medicine, veterinary public health and epidemiology.

“Across the swine industry, we routinely deal with influenza, so we’re pretty well versed in flu,” Bowman says. “But this adds a whole other character to the scene that we really don’t want reassorting with the flu viruses we already have.”

One of the things that makes H5N1 different than other new swine disease outbreaks is that the USDA has jurisdiction over H5 in any animal, so they have the regulatory authority, Daniels says.

“USDA had no rules or regulations around H5 in cattle, and we’re at the same place today in the swine industry,” Daniels adds. “If we were to find H5 in swine, USDA would have the authority and there are no rules or regulations around it.”

This has made the discovery of H5N1 in dairy cattle challenging in the past year, because it’s taken a long time for those regulations to be developed.

“There’s the state and federal aspect of that, where states have autonomy to set their own rules, and then federal rules can come in place that everybody has to abide by,” he points out. “There’s been this slowly evolving plan with a patchwork of regulations by different states. That’s been challenging to keep up with as a veterinarian and a producer.”

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has likely amplified concerns around influenza’s ability to be transmitted from humans to animals and from animals to humans.

“This has resulted in a high concern about influenza being the next COVID. Yes, that could happen. Today it hasn’t to that degree.”

Scanlon Daniels

People are fearful of government influence and interaction, he says.

“No one wanted to be first or second or third to get H5N1 in their dairy cattle – just like no one wanted to be first to get COVID-19. There was a reluctance to test because of the uncertainty of it,” Daniels explains. “People fear government overreach or regulations that wouldn’t be applied in a fair or equal way across the industry.”

The Stakes are High
Everybody has a stake in this issue, Daniels says. The challenge is that everybody comes to it with differing priorities regarding the issues at hand.

The American Association of Bovine Practitioners invited seven different groups that have the ability to provide vaccine to share about their technologies on a webinar. This gave avian and bovine veterinarians alike exposure to their vaccine technology.

“The hard part is getting everybody to agree on what needs to happen,” Daniels says.

But he believes the vaccine question is worth talking about.

“If it was just another influenza, we would have had a vaccine available in a couple weeks, honestly,” he says. “The government has the ability to authorize vaccine use under an emergency use exemption. For all the concerns that have been talked about with export markets, and how people might respond from a trade standpoint, they haven’t been willing to look at that. But if we could use vaccine on an experimental use basis, we would know a lot more by now about the value of that intervention.”

In a USDA update on March 20, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said USDA is exploring the viability of vaccinating poultry for highly pathogenic avian influenza. However, Rollins said the use of any vaccine for poultry or any animal species has not been authorized at this time.

“I know there has been some misreporting on that,” Rollins said. “The day we rolled out the plan, I actually talked about the fact that we’re not ready to vaccinate. We need to do some more research, and so that has not changed, but I do look forward to this next process of learning more about getting more research done and perhaps seeing what makes sense for the country moving forward, once that is concluded.”

Another concern on Daniels’ mind is the implication with human health. Influenza A viruses are common in people. They are constantly changing and reassorting.

“Influenza viruses exist and circulate in people all the time,” says National Pork Board chief veterinarian Dusty Oedekoven . “The threat of influenza virus infection is ever present. It’s why healthcare providers recommend people get annual influenza vaccines to prevent against new strains of the virus that are emerging all the time.”

Daniels says the unknown transmission opportunities between humans and animals, especially pigs, can be concerning.

“The transmission from people to pigs is a legitimate concern. As an industry, it might be worthwhile doing some serological surveillance.”

Scanlon Daniels

At a recent bovine practitioners meeting, they surveyed 150 veterinarians and found three of them have had prior exposure to H5N1, he says. Some of those had no contact with dairy or birds.

“It would probably be wise for us to do some serosurveillance to know if people working at hog farms have had some exposure and it hasn’t transmitted yet,” he points out.

For example, his lab had a lot of infected milk come through before they knew what it was.

“My staff had legitimate fears and concerns we had to address,” Daniels says. “Fortunately, we didn’t experience any illness or lost time outside of the normal. That could have been different. We can’t lose sight of the human aspect of it. I am a human, a swine vet and a beef producer, so I can understand several aspects of it from a balanced way.”

Hurdle By Hurdle
At the end of the day, the swine industry has a lot to learn from what the dairy industry experienced in the past year, he says.

“On one hand, we have advantages relative to bovine veterinarians because we have a strong background and applied experience in diagnostics and strong working relationships with state and federal animal health officials,” Daniels says. “We have a mindset of disease elimination when possible and strong integrated relationships with producers. The swine industry also has the ability to direct Pork Checkoff dollars toward research (the dairy industry does not).”

On the other hand, he says many of the factors that have caused consternation will continue to be problematic if HPAI is identified in swine. Studies need to be done looking at H5N1 in swine, he says. If a sow is infected, does it transmit to pigs? Can her pigs shed it to contact controls? How could the movement of wean pigs spread the disease?

He also wonders if pigs have some cross-protective immunity at this point because influenza is pretty much endemic in almost all swine populations. And, even though it presents in the mammary system in cows, he argues the swine industry could do some additional work in growing pigs, because it would be easier to deal with there than on a sow farm.

One of the biggest hurdles is that H5N1 is a select agent. Once samples are known to be positive for H5N1 antigen, there are many requirements related to storage, handling and testing that come into play. Space is limited to research H5N1 and Daniels is concerned at the delay in testing this virus in swine.

“Another challenge is H5N1 is of economic significance to dairy producers but has not been great enough to stimulate much independent industry action.”

Scanlon Daniels

For comparison, the relative economic impact of H5N1 in dairy is estimated to be approximately 10% that of a porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) outbreak in swine, he says.

“We have seen growing interest by veterinarians and producers in eliminating H1 and H3 influenza infections in swine, but the interest and adoption is less than what we see for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and PEDV,” Daniels says. “Would we see the same if H5N1 was identified in swine?”

He believes the swine industry still has an opportunity to develop the response to H5N1 in commercial swine before it occurs.

“It’s time to get some of these questions answered that are important to us,” Daniels says. “If it were to happen, we need to be prepared to address some of the risk factors, things that are real versus the fear of the unknown.”

Your Next Read: Influenza Expert Gets Real About the H5N1 Risk to Your Swine Herd

Editor’s Note: On March 12, APHIS confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H7N9 in a broiler chicken breeder flock in Mississippi. APHIS has previously documented H7 low pathogenicity avian influenza in U.S. wild bird surveillance this year and in previous years, but this is the first HPAI H7 case in commercial poultry in the U.S. since 2017. This H7N9 virus is a fully North American virus of wild bird-origin and is unrelated to the Eurasian H5N1 currently circulating in the U.S. Spillovers of avian influenza from wild bird sources can occur due to breaches in biosecurity. APHIS closely monitors these subtypes because H5 and H7 LPAI viruses in poultry species such as chickens and turkeys can mutate into highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Proactive Strategies for Managing Increased Mycotoxin Risk

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 17:37:00 GMT

Mycotoxins are natural substances produced by molds and fungi and are more prevalent in agriculture now more than ever before, according to 2024 U.S. Harvest Analysis released by Alltech. More than 95% of crops today are contaminated with at least one mycotoxin, and often with two or more. Mycotoxins are are difficult to detect and can cause significant damage to animal health before producers even realize their presence.

The comprehensive report determined the combination of heavy early-season rains and late-season droughts has created distinct challenges for crop producers in the United States and indicated that overall risk is moderate to high.

“The trend for corn grain and corn silage is somewhat higher across all regions of the U.S. than it was for 2023,” says Dr. Max Hawkins, global technical support for the Technology Group at Alltech. “This increase in risk is due to the occurrence and levels of type B trichothecenes primarily, but zearalenone and fumonisins are also included in the increase, particularly in the Eastern U.S. The result is an increased pressure on animal health and performance that producers will need to monitor moving forward to maintain a proactive mycotoxin management program.”

What can producers do to manage and mitigate mycotoxin risk?

Learn which mycotoxins pose the highest risk to specific regions, crops and species.
Test and monitor: Regularly test crops and feed to understand what’s present and to ensure high quality.
Leverage weather data: Pay attention to weather patterns and farm-specific conditions to assess potential risks early.
Use comprehensive information: Gather unbiased data from all aspects of your operation and tailor it to fit your specific needs.
Combine methods: Utilize both traditional techniques and new technologies to refine processes and ensure feed quality.
Act proactively: If mycotoxins are present, be proactive with management to ensure high-quality feed production, thus protecting animals and safeguarding your operation’s resilience and success.

Key points included in the analysis include:

Corn silage

The Upper Midwest showed higher risk due to DON than in 2023, while other regions showed a similar risk to 2023. Emerging mycotoxins and Type B trichothecenes had the highest prevalence.

Corn

The risk from corn grain is primarily DON and fumonisins. The risk in the East is similar to 2023, while the risk in the Midwest is greater than 2023, particularly for monogastrics.

The final mycotoxin risk will ultimately depend on the animal species and groups being fed and the mycotoxin concentrations and combinations in the finished diet, according to the report.

Testing includes samples of new-crop grains and forages collected from farms or animal feed production sites across the country, ensuring an accurate picture of mycotoxin contamination. All samples are tested at the leading-edge Alltech 37+® lab, which can detect the presence of 54 mycotoxins.

Take the Stress Out of Social Media: Navigate Detractors

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:14:33 GMT

Have you ever wanted to post on social media but were worried about potential backlash? You want to share your farm, but are worried about receiving potentially negative comments about sow housing? Maybe you are worried about getting tough questions about the use of hormones or antibiotics when it comes to feeding your animals or treating them for illnesses?

Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common for farmers, veterinarians and others in the ag community advocating for animal agriculture on social media. Negative comments have the potential to steer the conversation down an unproductive path. However, if you know how to handle contentious issues online then you can help people understand the animal agriculture community’s commitment to animal care, responsible antibiotic use, sustainability and other core values.

Before deciding how (and if) to respond to comments, take a deep breath and ask yourself a few key questions:

1. Is the comment relevant or is it completely off-topic?

2. Who has made the comments? Are they genuinely curious or are they a known extreme animal rights activist?

3. Consider, “Is it possible they have a different perspective?” or “Is there something that could have shaped this person’s opinion?”

4. Will responding to the comment help other people who will read your response?

If the person has left a completely irrelevant comment, don’t feel obligated to respond. If the comment included offensive remarks, feel confident in hiding the comment or blocking the person from commenting again. Remember, your social media page is your space, and you can set community guidelines.

Depending on who has left the comment can determine how you respond. By clicking on the commentor’s profile you can quickly learn if their comments come from a place of true concern and interest, like a parent concerned about feeding his or her children safe, nutrient-dense foods, or potentially an animal rights extremist with no intention of having a productive conversation about animal agriculture.

If you have concluded that the commenter is likely not open to having a dialogue, still ask yourself if responding to the comment will help others understand your perspective. Social media is a very public space and there are many more people reading your posts and comment sections than actually engaging.

Once you have asked yourself these questions and have decided that responding is your next step, look for common ground on a related topic – such as food safety and family values. Before jumping into the safety and animal welfare benefits of using antibiotics, validate their concerns and offer empathy. Then, ask permission to share your personal experience with using antibiotics on the farm. If the conversation is going well, follow up with the science and offer resources or other people to follow on social media if they are interested in learning more.

Most importantly, know that you can always ask for help. Bring in your friends who also have experience responding to contentious issues, reach out to your local partners, or the Animal Agriculture Alliance to help you moderate difficult conversations.

This is just a preview of the content and training available in the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s Animal Ag Allies program. To sign up to become an Animal Ag Ally, go to and fill out the interest form to join our next class!

Your Next Read: Build Your Team Across the Entire Supply Chain

Why Students Should Apply for the 2025 Summer Veterinary Internship Program Now

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 22:08:35 GMT

The Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine (ISU CVM) is seeking veterinary student applicants for summer 2025 swine, bovine and poultry internship positions.

Will Fombelle, DVM, is a veteran of several internships spread across his undergraduate studies in animal sciences and also into his veterinary school education. During the summer of 2012, he completed the Swine Veterinary Internship Program (SVIP).

“While in school, I took on the attitude of completing as many internships as I possibly could in order to not only narrow down my career choice but also my future employer. By participating in these programs, I was able to mold my interests into the fields of swine medicine and production which greatly accelerated my vision of where I chose to start my career in veterinary medicine at Carthage Veterinary Service,” he said in a previous PorkBusiness.com article .

Participants in the SVIP collaborate with a mentoring veterinarian or team of veterinarians at a production system or practice. Students are immersed in modern swine production and health daily and take the lead on designing and executing a field trial with guidance from mentors, ISU CVM said on its website . Students also take part in diagnostic test sampling and implement the principles and methods of swine diagnostic collection, testing and interpretation.

“Even if your university has classes well into the summer, you have a study abroad trip planned, a wedding or another reason you might not be able to commit to the entire 12 weeks, go ahead and apply,” ISU CVM encouraged. “Just note your availability in the section where it asks about conflicts. We can’t guarantee we can accommodate all schedules but if a student is selected we will try our hardest to be flexible and make it work.”

Applications are due Dec. 1, 2024 (late applications are accepted but higher priority will be given to those received by Dec. 1).

Apply here.

“These summer internships are the first exposure for students to the real world, and we should do our best to make each student’s experience a positive one,” Fombelle wrote.

Learn more here.

Your Next Read: Find and Develop Your Replacement in the Pork Industry

Renowned Scientist to Discuss Role of Livestock Production in Today’s Society

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:42:25 GMT

Scientist Peer Ederer, whose international company conducts research and communicates scientific evidence about the role of animals in the global food system, will be the featured speaker for the Henry C. Gardiner Global Food Systems lecture Oct. 7 at Kansas State University.

Ederer has been involved in scientific research in cooperation with leading universities around the world for more than two decades. In 2020, he formed the company GOALSciences – which stands for the Global Observatory of Accurate Livestock Sciences – to encourage accurate scientific data regarding livestock production around the world.

He is also a member of the Scientific Council of the World Farmers Organisation.

In 2022, Ederer was a driving force in developing the Dublin Declaration, a report drafted “to give voice to the many scientists around the world who research diligently, honestly and successfully in the various disciplines in order to achieve a balanced view of the future of animal agriculture.”

As of May, 1,204 scientists have signed their support for that document.

“The Dublin Declaration tried to achieve three things,” Ederer said. “First of all, as scientists, we wanted to ensure that when we talk about livestock, we are talking from all of its many perspectives; three of those perspectives are nutrition; environment and ecology; and then society and ethics.”

Each of the perspectives, he said, has many parts.

“In nutrition, you have negative impacts on health that food can have, but you also have the nourishing effects. In environment, we talk about biodiversity, water, land utilization and climate. And regarding society, we have economic, social and ethical issues.”

The other two achievements of the Dublin Declaration, Ederer said, is it asked policymakers to draw policy on the basis of scientific evidence – “not on the basis of scientists, not on what is said, Instead it is the scientific evidence that matters” – and secondly giving voice to scientists who are doing relevant work in studying livestock.

“The Dublin Declaration mobilized scientists around the world and gave them a voice,” Ederer said. “It tells them that they’re not the only one’s thinking about livestock. It gives the field (of animal research) the courage to know that there is a solid future for livestock in our societies.”

Ederer notes that establishing scientific basis for decisions regarding livestock production brings clearer understanding to arguments for reducing the consumption of meat.

“That line of thinking is being driven by arguments of health, environment and ethics,” he said.

He called arguments for eliminating red meat in a diet due to health concerns “bogus.”

“There’s just simply no scientific evidence. At the same time, we know of many health benefits, including nutrient density, protein density, bioavailability of amino acids and critical nutrients like iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and more.”

Ederer said current science also disproves a commonly held belief that livestock production – particularly cattle production – increases the presence of carbon in the environment, ultimately contributing to climate change and global warming.

“The cow does emit methane, and that methane will deteriorate after some period of time in the atmosphere,” he said. “During that time period, while the carbon molecule is in the form of methane, rather than carbon dioxide, it is more climate active. So, for that short period of time, there is an additional warming impulse.”

But cattle and other ruminant animals are also directly and indirectly involved in storing carbon in soil by feeding on grasses and other carbon sources.

“These two factors need to be squared against each other,” Ederer said. “It turns out that in many cases, the carbon sequestration effect created by ruminants is higher or at least compensates for the short period of time that methane is in the air.”

Simply, he notes, “livestock do not create a significant net addition to carbon in the environment.”

Kansas State University established the Henry C. Gardiner Global Food Systems lecture series to provide science-based education about world food issues. The series allows students, faculty, staff and Kansas citizens to interact with U.S. and international food industry leaders on topics of current interest.

The lecture series is funded by the Gardiner family of Ashland, Kan. Henry C. Gardiner, who passed away just days before the first lecture in 2015, was known as a visionary leader who dedicated his career to improving the beef industry through science and technology.

Organizers are planning a day-long conference on Oct. 7 to commemorate the 10th year of the lecture series. The conference agenda and information on how to register is available online at https://www.k-state.edu/research/global-food/events/lecture-series .

When All Hell Broke Loose: Our PRRS Outbreak

Tue, 21 May 2024 14:52:35 GMT

She was nestled in the middle of the gestation barn, far away from the door. When she didn’t get up to eat that morning, Kyle Baade, owner of Baade Genetics in southeast Nebraska , didn’t think much of it. He thought the sow might have hurt a pad. The next day, three sows beside her didn’t get up to eat either, so he grabbed a thermometer. The four sows had temperatures ranging from 102 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Baade pulled blood and sent it in to be tested.

Meanwhile, all hell broke loose while he awaited the results.

Sows began aborting. Some even died. All Baade could think about – right, wrong or indifferent – was that he needed to move the sows from the gestation barn into the farrowing house.

“I thought if they did farrow early, and there was a chance the pigs were going to live, they sure weren’t going to do it in the gestation barn on slats. And, honestly, it was going to be easier to clean up on my part – to get deads out and clean up afterbirth,” Baade says.

But the effort didn’t help at all.

In a group of about 27 sows, 10 had just farrowed before the first sow went off feed. Of the additional sows left to farrow, five died. Some pigs were born alive, but sows wouldn’t lactate. They lost 100% of everything that farrowed within a couple of days after the first symptom was observed.

“The sows wouldn’t push farrowing. We had litters of 10 to 14 live pigs, but within three days, they’d all be dead. We thought the sows would be saved, if we got everything out. But that didn’t make a difference. They died, too,” Baade says.

Of the 18 sows that were recently bred for April litters, 11 maintained a pregnancy and farrowed litters. The litter sizes were essentially half as big as normal, he says, with about four to six pigs in a litter.

“I didn’t see any mummies, regardless of size. The pigs that were born were all normal and viable. We just had about half the numbers that we should have,” Baade says. “At 7 to 14 days of age, the pigs would look a little rough. The sows had no appetite. As time progressed, the pigs didn’t get any bigger for a week or two – just fuzzier haired.”

They took longer to bloom, but in terms of health, Baade says he didn’t notice any fallout aside from being a little bit fuzzy early on the sow. After they weaned the sows, the sows cycled like normal, too.

“The first 10 days were hell. After that, if you were a visitor showing up, you’d have no idea that we had any issues. You’d have no clue that we were taking skid loader buckets full of dead pigs to the compost pile,” he says. “I finally just quit counting.”

(Farm Journal)

_{On Dec. 15, a derecho windstorm caused some damage at Baade Genetics. Photo by Kyle Baade.}

The Results Are In

By the time they got lab results back, about two weeks after the break, the storm had died down a little, Baade says. The results pointed to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) .

This was Baade’s first major disease break since he took over the herd from John Penner in 2013. Today, Baade Genetics is an 80-sow operation that primarily focuses on raising Hampshire, Yorkshire, Duroc and crossbred showpigs for youth in 4-H and FFA. They also run a small boar stud business and offer semen on select boars.

“From a biosecurity standpoint, Penner’s operation was top of the line,” Baade says. “In order to bring in new genetics onto the farm, pigs had to be labbed in (through cesarean section). Up until 2010, before we started our boar stud, we didn’t even have worms on the place. In 2000, the farm opened up. For us, the only thing we bring in is herd boars we buy whether from a show or a farm privately. We quarantine and do multiple bleeds to bring stuff in.”

Baade understands that most will hear “showpig” and think PRRS came on to the farm via foot or pig traffic. His best guess is that the disease came onto the farm via wind.

“There was a big derecho windstorm a few weeks before we broke with PRRS,” he says. “The only traffic we had within a month of our outbreak was a propane truck that maybe came once a week to deliver propane. Aside from daily living, a propane truck was only source within 100 yards of the facilities.”

(Farm Journal)

Regardless of where you want to point the finger, Baade says it doesn’t add up.

“I would have thought PRRS would have struck the hogs outside in the Cargill unit or something of that nature,” he says. “Or even a sow closer to the door if it could have blown in. That’s what doesn’t make any sense to me – why it was that one? However, I don’t know what other finger to point at beside wind.”

Of the eight to 10 litters that farrowed prior to the disease break, Baade says he never saw any symptoms. This is hard for him to understand to this day because their farrowing house is basically one building separated into three rooms with a walk-through door and a solid wall. It uses the same pit, flush-system-style manure handling.

In addition, he houses his herd boars in turnaround gestation crates next to the sows who got sick. Of the eight boars, four experienced clinical signs of loss of appetite, fever and swelling of their testicles – bigger than a basketball.

“Semen quality went down in terms of number of doses and viable, good sperm able to settle,” Baade explains. “Although the PCR samples on the semen that we collected never tested positive, the boars were unarguably sick. Looking at them, there’s no way that you could say that they didn’t catch it with the loss of appetite and the testicle swelling.”

He also finds it hard to believe they kept PRRS isolated to one area of their farm.

“The craziest thing to me is we’ve got a 20-foot hallway to our double-L nursery where we had November-born hogs when we broke in January. We never saw anything abnormal from a development standpoint on any of those. When we broke, we moved those hogs from the nursery to our finisher, which is a couple hundred yards north of that building and put them on the east side of the slatted finisher. Also, up in our finisher on the west side, we had our summer-born July and August hogs we were finishing out. We never saw a single symptom up there and never had a PRRS-positive test in our quarterly bleeds,” he describes.

How something could blow into an enclosed gestation barn and wreak the havoc it did baffles Baade to this day.

(Farm Journal)

_{An experience like this makes you do better, Baade says as he looks toward the next generation. Photo by Laura Baade.}

PRRS Doesn’t Care Who You Are

What did he learn from this devastating outbreak that took away his 2022 county fair pig crop?

“PRRS does not care whether you are a showpig producer. PRRS does not care whether you have two sows or 30,000,” Baade says.

When his farm broke, a commercial farm north of theirs broke with the same strain within 24 hours – seemingly at the same time.

“The worst part was that it felt like it was nothing I did. I hadn’t traipsed a bunch of people through our place. It was a slow time of year. The pig that showed first signs was as well-guarded as any pig on the place. It showed me that you can do everything right in your mind and it can still come out wrong,” Baade says.

Nonetheless, an experience like this makes you do better, he says. He’s been taking a long look at what he can do differently on his farm to prevent another PRRS outbreak.

“Not to make excuses, but because we are showpig-focused, we do have some on-farm visitors and customers that want to see the product they are buying. Whether that is herd boars for semen sales or a showpig that a family buys to compete with or a bred female from one of our online sales. To me, it’s a non-negotiable viewpoint that people still want to see what they are buying,” he says.

Because of this, they’ve stepped up their ability to present what they have to offer for sale by using a professional vendor with better equipment and skills to convey what they are offering.

Baade has also been weighing the decision to vaccinate or not.

“I’d have been more inclined if the test results that we got would have scientifically stated, ‘If I used this vaccine, I’d be 95% plus protected.’ When the professionals say we need those results to be effective and we don’t see those, that’s what makes it a gray area. If it’s not what the scientific data says it should be, how can they scientifically argue you need to do it?” he says.

Although he’s not sure if that’s the right mindset to have, it’s where he is at today.

“It’s hard to know what you don’t know,” Baade adds. “If we would have vaccinated, maybe we wouldn’t have seen symptoms. But I know what we saw was just as bad as a farm that was vaccinated.”

(Farm Journal)

_{Kyle and Laura Baade with their children (l to r) Betsy, Anders and Callan. Photo by Blue Skies Photography.}

Don’t Stop Talking

It was a depressing time in Baade’s life. He’s since learned that it helps to talk about what he went through as much as anything.

“My wife and I are more than willing to talk about it with anyone now; we have a tale to tell,” he says. “It sucked. We never want to relive that story. The scary thing for me is that I don’t necessarily know how to make sure we never relive that story except completely get out of raising hogs. And there is no way that is going to happen.”

Laura Baade, Kyle’s wife, admits it was hard on their marriage and put a strain on their family.

For example, Baade says it was hard to be out in the barn when pigs were dying. For days in a row, he would come inside, head down to the basement and watch NetFlix to pass the time during the day.

“I remember my wife asking, ‘Aren’t you going to do something?’ I was like, ‘What do you want me to do? Whether I haul deads now or in three hours is irrelevant as to what I accomplish the rest of the day.’ I just needed to let my mind churn a bit,” he says.

Baade later found out that a friend’s farm broke with PRRS in early December, just a month before Baade did. It wasn’t until Baade opened up about his outbreak that his friend finally opened up about his.

“We were able to talk about what we had seen, what we did and how we handled it. It helped a lot,” he says. “My best advice is to find someone to talk to. I don’t understand why as an industry we think it is so noble to hide our shortfalls. Everybody experiences the same problems and instead of potential growth, we limit the ability to re-direct because we think it’s only us and it’s not.”

The truth is PRRS is devastating. But Baade knows they weren’t the first farm to go through it, and they won’t be the last.

“It’s OK to not be ‘living the dream’ every day,” he says. “PRRS takes time to run its course. It will get better whether it’s because it runs its course and you keep chugging along doing what you’re doing, or whether you shift directions completely and get out. Life is going to move on, and it will all be fine, maybe even better.”

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Wind, PRRS and Pig Farm Biosecurity: Learn from Our Outbreak

Persistent PRRS Strains Pose Challenges for Pork Producers

PRRS Strain 1-4-4: The Most Dramatic Strain I’ve Seen, Yeske Says

Naïve or Not? The Never-Ending Dilemma of Sow Farm PRRS Status

PRRS: Deciphering the Mystery Disease

The Fight Isn’t Over

5 Ways PRRS Made Us Better

Researchers Look for Ways to Control PRRS Via the Microbiome

Sow Death Loss Reaches All-Time High in 2023: What Can Producers Do Now?

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 19:09:04 GMT

The practical, slat-level experience Brad Eckberg gained years ago working on a sow farm has provided him with a unique vantage point in his role as a business analyst at MetaFarms, Inc. But one of the greatest opportunities he’s had is combining the data he analyzes everyday with time spent on customers’ sow farms of all sizes.

Unfortunately, the topic of sow death loss comes up frequently and weighs heavy on producers’ minds. The latest MetaFarms reports show sow death loss in 2023 was at an all-time high at 15.3%. That’s up 1% from a year ago – a trend that continues to move in the wrong direction.

Although there isn’t a magic bullet to reduce sow death loss, Eckberg offers some things for producers to think about based off the time he has spent looking at data, talking to producers and visiting a variety of operations.

“Animal husbandry needs to be the No. 1 focus,” Eckberg says. “I think that’s probably one of the lowest hanging fruits to improve sow death loss.”

Identify troubled animals

When it comes to animal husbandry, it’s important to make sure staff are properly trained on identifying troubled animals, he says.

“When I think back to the years I spent working in the sow barn, I think we could have done things differently,” he says. “For example, when we would see a sow that would be off feed, we’d go give her a shot and say ‘see you tomorrow.’ The next day, we might see a sow tiptoeing a little bit and we’d give her a shot and say ‘see you tomorrow.’ Instead, could we have put a mat under the sow to help her out? Move her to a different environment to improve her healing process?”

Not only is it the right thing to do for the animal, but he says science continues to show how improving animal husbandry improves animal performance and profitability.

It’s challenging, however, when labor turns over frequently and farms struggle to fill the needs in the barns.

“I wonder if some of that labor shortage is impacting the ability to identify animals that are at risk of not making it,” Eckberg says.

Prioritize gilt development

Never forget the importance of gilts on the farm, he continues. Gilts are the foundation of a sow farm. Although that’s not an earth-shattering statement, Eckberg says how you handle your gilts is ultimately going to determine your long-term success on the sow farm. That means spending extra attention on developing gilts will pay off in the end.

“Reflecting back 20 years ago, we didn’t spend enough time in the gilt developers. For example, could we have spent more time with heat detection? Studies show capturing at least one heat, no-service on an animal will drastically improve your P-1 and lifetime performance,” he says.

He recently looked at the low number of heat, no-service gilts entered into the MetaFarms database in 2021. Over 60% of the gilts entered did not have a heat, no-service. That’s about 250,000 gilts that did not have a recorded heat, no-service.

“If you’re not capturing that information within your record keeping platform, how do you really know?” he asks. “It’s by way of the stone age a little bit with pen and a piece of paper. I’ve got my notebook, and I can go back and look, but we’re all busy. Having that information at our fingertips by using a platform to track that information makes a difference.”

Eckberg believes sow death loss can be reduced by providing excellent animal husbandry, paying attention to details and capturing that information so it can be used to make future decisions.

Editor’s Note: This is the second story in a four-part series. See the first story here . The numbers shared in this story are preliminary 2023 numbers. The 2023 MetaFarms database represents 1.1 million sows from 460 farms as well as 24 million nursery pigs started and about 11 million single-stocked wean-to-finish pigs in 4,000 groups. As data flows in, updated numbers will be released from MetaFarms. MetaFarms does not release information on its customers, and follows strict benchmarking rules about which data is included in reports.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

The Superpower the Industry Needs on Swine Farms Now

Preweaning Piglet Mortality Hits Five-Year High

Mortality Continues to Challenge Pork Producers

Production Analysis Summary for U.S. Pork: Use the Data to Your Advantage

How Will the Economic Boom Impact U.S. Agricultural Businesses?

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 15:57:30 GMT

The economic boom continues as U.S. consumers are getting out and about spending on services once again. Jobs are abundantly available, but workers are scarce as the labor market is healing slower than many economists expected, according to the latest Quarterly report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange.

CoBank says labor challenges felt during the pandemic and continuing still today will incentivize businesses throughout the food supply chain to rapidly increase automation within their operations.

“The most significant and lasting impact from COVID-19 will be an acceleration in automation,” says Dan Kowalski, vice president of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange division, in the report. “And it will affect the entire supply chain from field to grocery and restaurants. It won’t be an overnight transformation, but much larger investments in technology now will lead to a much more automated supply chain over the next few years.”

Although commodity price inflation has been a boon to many ag producers over the past year, CoBank says increases in raw material and transportation costs, combined with higher wages, are causing retailers to pass those higher costs on to consumers.

Grocers and restaurants are trying to discern how this will impact consumer buying habits. CoBank adds, “The coming adjustments will look quite different for each segment of the food supply chain. But the acceleration in change will be meaningful, and strategic steps to build more resilient businesses are coming sooner than previously believed.”

Meat and Poultry Prices Hit Record Highs in May
Meat and poultry prices hit record highs in mid-May as food service and retail grocery pipelines prepared for post-COVID-19 consumer activity and summer gatherings. In April, food service sales reached pre-COVID-19 levels, hitting an all-time monthly high of $75.3 billion, the report says.

Overall retail grocery sales growth is up 7.3% from a year ago and 15.3% from 2019, providing evidence of longer-term changes in consumer behavior.

Pork has been one of the highest rising commodities in 2021, CoBank points out, with lean hog futures topping out at $122 in mid-June. Still, strong consumer demand for meat, tight supplies of competing meats and declining pork production in the second half of the year will continue to impact pork prices for the rest of 2021.

“USDA’s June 1 Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report was mildly bullish and confirmed what most of the trade expected: the U.S. hog inventory shrank again, dropping 2% year over year, continuing a contraction since mid-2019,” CoBank’s authors report.

Analysts said there were a couple of surprises, however:
• Pigs per litter shrank, breaking a strong five-year growth trend with increased disease pressure being the most logical explanation.
• June-November farrowing intentions are down 3.2% from a year ago, aligning with declining breeding sows and gilts numbers, which are down 2.8% since 2019.

CoBank cautions that Chinese pork prices have dropped 65% since the beginning of the year, signaling a significant reduction of U.S. pork exports to China in the second half of the year.

Beef prices are at or near record highs, yet cattle ranchers and feeders are currently facing limited national slaughter capacity, high feed costs and the liquidation pressures of exceptional drought hitting the western U.S., CoBank reports. The national beef herd is in contraction due to weak cow-calf profitability going back as far as 2015.

Chicken industry margins have improved significantly from the low points of 2020 and CoBank expects profitability to remain strong through the end of 2021. However, issues with chicken breeding stock changes in the past couple of years have limited short-term expansion potential.

Milk production continues to chart record highs in the U.S. despite the increase in feed costs and hot temperatures. Milk production topped 19.85 million pounds for the first time in May, with daily output up 4.6% year-over-year, CoBank reports. Exports of U.S dairy products continue to be key, though the risk of a stronger U.S. dollar could threaten the pace of exports in the next few months.

Read the full report here.

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Democratic Lawmakers Introduce Bill to End Factory Farming, Livestock Groups Fight Back

What’s Next for Animal Activism in 2021 and What Can We Do About It?

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:14:41 GMT

By Hannah Thompson-Weeman, Animal Agriculture Alliance

2020 has taken me so off guard that I am a little hesitant to even attempt to look into my crystal ball and make predictions for 2021. A year ago, I certainly would not have guessed that events and travel would come to a halt in March or that phrases like “mask up” or “social distancing” would be part of our daily conversations. As much as the past year has shown us that being flexible and adaptable is just as valuable as having thorough predictions and plans, I still believe there is merit to taking a moment to reflect on some of the trends we’ve seen this past year and consider how they may impact us moving forward.

The Animal Ag Alliance has remained focused on monitoring animal rights activism this year, and activist groups have not skipped a beat in their efforts to damage the reputation of animal agriculture. Some organizations believe the COVID-19 pandemic is the “tipping point” they need for their messages to go mainstream, and that concept combined with activists trying to take advantage of a new incoming administration means that 2021 could be an even more intense year for activism.

I think we should all be preparing for a few continued trends:

• Activist messaging involving public health and animal agriculture. Activist groups have long claimed that animal agriculture is a threat to public health and the COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to that fire (despite there not really being any merit to attempting to tie the current outbreak to food production). Unfortunately, this narrative seems to be gaining steam with calls to “reform the food system” to prevent future pandemics. I think we are going to see more and more references to farms as “breeding grounds” for future disease outbreaks and should be focused on debunking that narrative.

• Renewed focus on sustainability. Conversations about the environmental impact of animal agriculture took a backseat for much of 2020, but in the past few months that discussion is heating back up. Restaurant chains like Panera and Chipotle have announced new labeling programs to communicate the environmental footprint of their menu options and we’re starting to hear more about the UN Food Systems Summit coming up in 2021 with an action track focused on “shifting to sustainable consumption patterns.” The animal agriculture community will need to make sure we’re continuing to communicate about our sustainability efforts as we settle into the “new normal.”

• Large-scale protests and demonstrations, including at private homes. Activist groups seem to be upping the ante in terms of protests this year, likely believing that they need to be more and more extreme to get attention. We’ve seen continued protests (despite restrictions on gatherings) everywhere from farms and plants to public health offices, with some involving trespassing and interfering with daily operations. Animal rights activist organizations have also held several protests at the private homes of animal agriculture company and organization leaders, which is a troubling new trend. These continued incidents illustrate that we cannot let farm security slip down our priority list in 2021.

Despite whatever challenges 2021 may bring, know that the Alliance team is here and has your back. Happy New Year!

Read more from Hannah Thompson-Weeman:

Things Animal Rights Activists Say: 2020 Edition

Activists Set Sights on 4-H and FFA Despite Fewer Fairs

Communication Strategy is Critical Part of Crisis Planning

Meat Packers Accelerated Spread of COVID-19, Study Says

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 20:52:03 GMT

New research published by the National Academy of Sciences ties livestock meat packing plants to 6% to 8% of U.S. COVID-19 cases, and 3% to 4% of the deaths through late July.

The authors said the data show “a strong positive relationship” between meatpacking plants and “local community transmission,” suggesting the plants act as “transmission vectors” and “accelerate the spread of the virus.”

Researchers at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business found that the risk of excess death primarily came from large meatpacking plants operated by industry giants. Communities that acted to shut down slaughterhouses reduced spread, according to the researchers.

In a statement, the North American Meat Institute said, “Meat and poultry companies continue to invest, more than $1 billion so far, in significant changes and improvements regarding COVID-19 prevention and control practices to protect the men and women who work in their facilities. By limiting the data examined to July 21, 2020, the article does not evaluate the complete timeline of information. The authors fail to capture the downward trend of positive cases associated with the meat and poultry industry into the summer and fall, especially in contrast to the positive cases reaching new highs around the nation.

“Significantly, even the authors suggest caution, saying ‘The best we can do here is provide an unusually broad array of observational evidence’ and that they do not want to ‘overstate the hardness of our method.’ The timeline limitations, coupled with those cautions, should give pause to drawing any conclusions.”

The peer-reviewed study was published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.

The researchers called the COVID-19 pandemic a public health and economic crisis in which policymakers face tradeoffs between maintaining essential economic activities and mitigating disease spread. President Trump issued an executive order on April 28 directing meatpackers to reopen closed facilities.

“Our study suggests that, among essential industries, livestock processing poses a particular public health risk extending far beyond meatpacking companies and their employees,” the authors wrote.

The study estimated packing plants were associated with 236,000 to 310,000 COVID-19 cases and 4,300 to 5,200 deaths by July 21.

“The vast majority” of those cases were “likely related to community spread outside these plants,” the researchers wrote. The authors suggested an investigation into supply chains, operating procedures and labor relations within the meatpacking industry.

The researchers also found plants that received waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase their production-line speeds had relatively more county-wide cases.

“Ensuring both public health and robust essential supply chains may require an increase in meatpacking oversight and potentially a shift toward more decentralized, smaller-scale meat production,” the study concluded.

Let’s Talk Turkey, Thanksgiving and Traditions

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 19:08:33 GMT

Thanksgiving may look different in 2020, but farmers are still the focus

As the frantic pace of harvest winds down, we can reflect on another season of abundant effort. The vital work of farmers and ranchers is not always easy — as we saw in 2020. Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to remember despite challenges, we all have many reasons to be grateful.

For many, Thanksgiving 2020 will stray from tradition. Nearly 70% of Americans plan to celebrate Thanksgiving differently this year, according to a recent consumer survey by research firm Numerator. Big gatherings will likely be broken into several smaller ones, which should still mean healthy demand the country’s turkey producers, says Beth Breeding, National Turkey Federation vice president of communications and marketing.

“There’s something very comforting about that Thanksgiving meal with the turkey at the center of the table,” she says. “There could even be an increase in turkey sales because of additional gatherings.”

The change in the size of gatherings could cause demand for smaller turkeys or cuts or parts such as whole breasts. Breeding says the popularity of kitchen tools such as Instant Pots and air fryers have already increased consumer demand and familiarity with these forms of turkey.

“We also expect to see a lot more first timers this year, who have never prepared the Thanksgiving meal before, have a go at preparing turkey,” Breeding says. “Everyone is cooking so much more at home.”

As you prepare for your Thanksgiving celebration, brush up on your knowledge about the traditional holiday dishes:

Turkeys: The U.S. is No. 1 in global turkey production.
Potatoes: The U.S. ranks fifth in global potato production. North Carolina is the leading sweet potato producing state, while Idaho grows the most white potatoes.
Cranberries: The U.S. is No. 1 in global cranberry production. Wisconsin leads the U.S. in production.
Pecans: The U.S. is No. 1 in global pecan production. New Mexico leads the U.S. in pecan production.
Pumpkins: The U.S. is fifth in global pumpkin production. Illinois leads the U.S. in pumpkin production.

Sources: USDA, National Turkey Federation

Join AgDay and U.S. Farm Report on Thanksgiving as they pay tribute to the amazing work and stories throughout America’s countryside in the annual “Harvest of Thanks” special.

U.S. Animal Ag Contributes to All 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

The Animal Agriculture Alliance released a new report detailing U.S. animal agriculture’s contributions to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Raising animals for food is at the heart of healthy, sustainable communities and healthy, sustainable diets. Generations of farmers and ranchers have put the health and well-being of animals first, while also caring for the land and its natural resources to ensure a viable future. In doing so, they have continued to provide nutrient-dense foods that cannot easily be replaced,” Animal Agriculture Alliance said in a release.

U.S. animal agriculture is actively contributing toward all 17 of the SDGs, including Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth and Climate Action, the report shows. The SDGs will be a central focus of the U.N.’s annual climate change conference, COP29, that is being held now through Nov. 22.

“The U.S. animal agriculture community is a world leader in sustainability efforts and has a proven track record of continued progress in environmental stewardship, food security, and more. Meat, dairy, poultry, eggs and seafood are at the heart of healthy, sustainable diets, playing a vital role in meeting nutritional demands and closing gaps in nutrient deficiencies,” Animal Agriculture Alliance said.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has concluded that, “Livestock serves as a crucial source of high-quality protein and essential micronutrients, and is vital for normal development and good health.”

The report highlights many examples of contributions being made toward each goal, including these:

• No Poverty (SDG 1): U.S. food and agriculture is an economic driver, providing 22.1 million jobs supporting local families and communities.

• Zero Hunger (SDG 2): Meat, dairy, poultry, eggs, and seafood play a pivotal role in healthy, balanced diets. The U.S. dairy community alone is supplying enough protein for 169 million people, calcium for 254 million people, and energy for 71.2 million people.

• Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3): Animal-based foods are great sources of many essential nutrients – some of which are best and sometimes only found in meat, dairy, poultry, eggs, and seafood. These foods can also support weight management, satiety, physical fitness, and overall health.

• Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7): The U.S. animal agriculture community is always looking for new ways to innovate, including projects to recycle manure from the farm and convert it into renewable energy.

• Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8): The agriculture and food sector provides employment to 10.4% of the working population in the U.S., equating to roughly 22 million jobs for Americans. Agriculture, food, and related industries contributed approximately $1.53 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, making up 6.5% of the share.

• Climate Action (SDG 13): Although incredible progress towards climate change efforts has already been made, the U.S. animal agriculture community remains committed to furthering that progress, including several pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Alliance notes it received a badge to participate in COP29 discussions, which has been shared with the Protein PACT to engage on behalf of animal agriculture.

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