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GRAPHIC: Despite COVID-19 Closings And Slowdowns, Pork Production Was Higher In 2020 Than The Year Before

GRAPHIC: Despite COVID-19 Closings And Slowdowns, Pork Production Was Higher In 2020 Than The Year Before

At the start of the pandemic’s first year, COVID-19 outbreaks forced dozens of meatpacking plants to close. Companies claimed there would be meat shortages.

Pork production — especially in the Midwest, which produces most of the nation’s pork — dropped significantly after the first wave of outbreaks, starting in March 2020. (A handful of plants produce the majority of the country’s pork.)

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska combine to process more than 40% of all hogs in the country. In these states, between March and May 2020, the rate of slaughtering dropped 40% compared to that time period in 2019, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis.

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LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

Video: LALEXPERT: Sclerotinia cycle and prophylactic methods

White rot, also known as sclerotinia, is a common agricultural fungal disease caused by various virulent species of Sclerotinia. It initially affects the root system (mycelium) before spreading to the aerial parts through the dissemination of spores.

Sclerotinia is undoubtedly a disease of major economic importance, and very damaging in the event of a heavy attack.

All these attacks come from the primary inoculum stored in the soil: sclerotia. These forms of resistance can survive in the soil for over 10 years, maintaining constant contamination of susceptible host crops, causing symptoms on the crop and replenishing the soil inoculum with new sclerotia.