Brazil Halts U.S. Live Pigs, Genetics over PEDv Concerns

Apr 03, 2014

Brazil’s pork industry successfully lobbied its government to put a temporary ban on imports of live breeding pigs, genetics and plasma from the United States.

The request was made after the Brazilian pork industry decided that the U.S. posed too high of a risk of infecting its pig herds with the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv).

Cases of the pig virus have been growing rapidly in the U.S. since last May. Earlier this year the virus spread to Canada, where they are now dealing with the highly contagious pig illness in three provinces.

Officials in Brazil say that a ban has been put in place as a preventive measure. The ban is expected to only be temporary.

Brazil is in the midst of developing biosecurity plans in the event that the virus arrives in that country.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.